A group of philanthropists whose names are not well-known provide a crucial link between seriously ill patients and world-class medical centers. More than 1,500 pilots volunteer their time and planes to AirLifeLine, which has provided over 30,000 such missions since its founding in 1978. More than 70,000 passengers, patients and family members, have been flown free of charge to leading medical centers around the country to reach life-saving treatment.

One of AirLifeLine's most enthusiastic volunteers is its president, Randy Quast, who became a pilot in 1997. The following year, after selling his trucking ompany, he decided to use his time flying medical missions for the program. By 2000, Quast had become a board member. "Then," he laughs, "when AirLifeLine began looking for a president, they came to me and said, "You're not working, so…" Quast acknowledges the difficult transition from heading an 800-employee for-profit company to a non-profit: "Well, I'm still in transportation, but I had to learn the difference between a for-profit and a non-profit. It was a lot easier to raise prices than it is to raise money."

The key components of the program, in addition to enlisting the pilots' time and planes, is outreach to leading medical centers, where social service departments refer patients in need of their assistance; fundraising to support the program; and the operations of scheduling the flight missions. The operations staff work out of Sacramento, CA; the national office, including development staff, is based in Minneapolis. The combined offices have a total of 10 employees. "We have a pretty lean staff," Quast said. "I'm still dealing with the same issues as in my company, but with only 10 people to draw from."

Nevertheless, Quast emphasized, "It's fun." Quast, who once wanted to be a doctor and did serve as a volunteer emergency medical technician, said he's finally brought together all the things he wanted to do in life. His attitude typifies what the volunteer pilots find attractive about the missions. "Private pilots are always looking for reasons to fly," he said . "With AirLifeLine, they have the opportunity to help somebody at the same time." There is a side benefit, Quast added, in that pilots are allowed to deduct the direct operations costs of the missions.

"In some cases, the time required to raise money to pay for transportation to treatment can mean the difference between life and death."

Continual recruitment of volunteer pilots is as important as fundraising, according to Development Director Ron Osterbauer. "The falloff is about 20% per year, due to lifestyle changes, or the pilots find they lack the time. We've embarked on a program to build up to 5,000 pilots over the next three to five years." Recruitment is done through state aviation conferences, airshows, word of mouth. About 200 of the volunteer pilots also assist with outreach, traveling to hospitals and medical centers to make them aware of the service, as well as spreading the word among fellow pilots. According to Director of Outreach Ginger Buxa, one of the most avid recruiters is Board Chairman Jon Wurtzberg, also a volunteer pilot. Like one-third of AirLifeLine's board members, Wurtzberg lives on the East Coast. "That's a hot spot for our missions," said Buxa, "because of the many leading medical centers in the area."

In a report released by the National Cancer Institute, the President's Cancer Panel highlighted transportation as a critical issue hindering many patients from access to adequate medical treatment: "In some cases, the time required to raise money to pay for transportation to treatment can mean the difference between life and death."

AirLifeLine has developed partnerships with Ronald McDonald House, which assists families and patients needing treatment for children's cancers; the American Cancer Society, and Alaska Airlines. They are in search of corporate partners as they prepare to expand their mission.

The economic slump, Osterbauer acknowledged, has affected their program. "Unfortunately, the donations go down, but not the number of missions," he said. "Actually, the need goes up, as more people find the cost of travel to distant medical centers out of their reach." In the past year, AirLifeLine has carried 9,500 passengers, which they estimate has saved the patients and their families $4 million in commercial travel costs.

For information, call 877-AIR LIFE or visit www.AirLifeLine.org.




Contributed by Susan Carey Dempsey, Editor-in-Chief of onPhilanthropy.com. Reprinted with permission from OnPhilanthropy.com, a division of Changing Our World, Inc.

To read another Global Envision article about volunteering see Giving Back.

To learn more through Global Envision about volunteering see Opportunities.