AMARILLO, Texas (KFDA) – Fred Poage is a pilot.
“This can be a 1996 Piper Mirage. So in aviation phrases, it’s really fairly new,” stated Dr. Fred Poage, Angel Flight Volunteer Pilot.
He’s additionally a medical physician.
“I’m an ER doctor right here in Amarillo. I work at a few the native hospitals on the town in addition to among the surrounding services,” stated Poage.
The mix of being each physician and pilot has fueled his ardour as a volunteer for Angel Flight.
“It’s very, essential. These aren’t medical flights. This isn’t like medevac or life flights or these kinds of issues, these are transportation flights. It’s to get sufferers to appointments,” stated Poage.
“It saves time and cash and it’s really, you realize, for anyone who’s doing all of it on their very own as a mother or father, it’s been a lifesaver for me,” stated Lindsey Stiner, a frequent Angel Flight traveler.
“I’m the mother of an eight-year-old boy who was identified in April of 2024. With D. I. P. T. He has undergone chemotherapy, radiation remedy and a number of surgical procedures over the past 10 months,” stated Baylie Barclay, Angel Flight traveler. ”With Angel Flight, we have been in a position to get to appointments or hospitals 4 to 9 hours away with no monetary burden to us.”
“She was recovering from an anoxic mind damage and couldn’t transfer independently in the course of the first flight, and Dr. Polk stepped in with compassion to assist us,” stated Samantha Arenas, one other Angel Flight traveler.
The monetary advantages, although, are simply one of many blessings supplied by Angel Flight.
Relating to family members and household, time could be far more useful than cash and bills.
“It’s 100% free. There’s no value for the affected person, however that’s not the worth. The worth is in having the ability to spend extra time with your loved ones, together with your family members,” stated Poage.
We’re taking a look at six hours or 12 hours on the street if it’s a day journey. So having the ability to simply hop on a airplane, get there inside an hour and a half, after which as quickly because the appointment is over with, coming again after an hour and a half,” stated Stiner.
The valuable time factor was one thing Dr. Pogge personally skilled with a terminally ailing partner.
“She fought ovarian most cancers for six and a half years,” stated Poage. “So we made lots of these jobs, you realize, the roles from Amarillo to Dallas, from Dallas to Houston. These are, these are taxing, proper? We didn’t know something about Angel Flight. Once more, I wasn’t a pilot. We didn’t know something about that.”
Impressed, he turned a pilot with a ardour to assist others.
“The power to offer time to a affected person or to their household is essentially the most treasured reward you can give,” stated Poage.
Together with a last moments of life reunion for a affected person not too long ago.
“I used to be in a position to get down there, choose her up, and get her again, and he or she handed only a few days later,” stated Poage. “Having the ability to speak to that mother so she might be there together with her daughter in these final moments and have a good time the life that she had.”
The airplane holds treasured cargo with members of the family heading to flights and it saves them treasured time within the course of.
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That’s Angel Flight, and that’s some excellent news.
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