Your child has a life-threatening medical condition. But you are hundreds, even thousands, of miles away from consultants and facilities specializing in that condition. The nearest large airport is hours away, but that’s no help because you can’t afford to fly across the province several times a year for medical appointments. Your only option is long hours on a bus or in a car with a sick child.

Such was the dilemma for single mom Christina Traynor of Elliot Lake. Her daughter, Mackenzie, had undergone heart surgery at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto just before her second birthday. As a result, Mackenzie needed to see a pediatric cardiologist at Sick Kids regularly. In addition, the youngster visited a pediatric gastroenterologist at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa on a regular basis for other ongoing health issues.

Half of Hope Air’s flights are for children and their escorts.

“Elliot Lake to Toronto is about a seven-hour drive, while Elliot Lake to Ottawa can take 10 to 12 hours,” says Traynor. “Each visit meant a two or three-day stay and then another long drive home. The trips were stressful and tiring for us, and we did it two or three times a year.”

Flying would have taken significant time off each trip, but the cost was prohibitive for Traynor, given the number of medical appointments her daughter required each year.

Then she heard about Hope Air, an organization dedicated to flying Canadians in financial need to necessary non-emergency medical treatment. The service is available in all provinces and territories and to patients of all ages, with half their flights for children and their escorts. And now, with the support of the Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF), accessing help from Hope Air has been made easier and more effective for Ontario patients.

The OTF grant helped Hope Air create HealthNet, an integrated web-based management system that links staff, volunteers, clients, medical personnel and social service agencies and airline program partners across Ontario. The system will enable individuals, medical and social service personnel and caregivers to submit requests for assistance via the Internet.

“Hope Air is an amazingly efficient organization that does a huge amount of work with very little,” says OTF program manager Nuala Doherty. “OTF funding has allowed them to create a complex computer model that really streamlines their volunteer services and functionality. As a result, Hope Air is able to help many more people reach the medical help they need.”

Hope Air’s Honorary National Patron, Dr. Marc Garneau, C.C. and OTF board member Vincent Conville at Hope Air’s 20th anniversary celebration in November 2006.

“The boarding cost per patient is approximately $100 compared to an average ticket price in excess of $500,” says Hope Air executive director Doug Keller-Hobson. “Since our inception in 1986, we have arranged more than 50,000 flights for Canadians at a savings to them in excess of $20 million.”

The majority of Hope Air’s aircraft seats are provided by Canada’s commercial airlines led by WestJet Airlines and Air Canada. The rest, especially to small or remote communities, are provided by a network of 400 volunteer pilots flying private planes.

“A flight inventory system within HealthNet also lets us better connect those who qualify for our service with a donated seat on a commercial or general aviation carrier,” says Keller-Hobson.
 
But Hope Air doesn’t just fly into Canada’s large cities. Patients are also transported to and from smaller centres.

“For example, in Northern Ontario we might fly a cancer patient from a remote community to Ottawa or Thunder Bay for regular chemotherapy treatments,” says Keller-Hobson. “Chemotherapy is difficult enough without arriving at the hospital exhausted from a 15-hour bus trip.”

Hope Air also provides 24-hour back-up for the Province of Ontario’s organ retrieval program.

As for Mackenzie, she’s now seven years old and doing well. As a result, those once frequent trips to Ottawa and Toronto have been dramatically reduced. However, her mother is relying on Hope Air for future check-ups – and that puts a smile on Mackenzie’s face.

“A hectic drive down south is now a fun adventure for my daughter, who is thrilled to ride in small planes,” says Traynor. “She can’t wait to go again!”