Angel Flight jumped into action this week to help a distressed Georgetown man visit his gravely ill wife in a Cairns hospital, after receiving an early morning phone call from Traeger MP Robbie Katter.
With flooded roads blocking the route to Cairns and time not on his side, Mr Katter and Georgetown resident Tammy Hughes made arrangements with Angel Flight on behalf of Lyle Stacpoole, who was desperate to be by his wife's side.
Townsville-based Angel Flight volunteer pilot Rodney Battle did not hesitate to accept when the urgent flight request was made early on Tuesday morning.
Rodney, one of 3500 volunteer Angel Flight pilots, flew Lyle into Cairns Airport on Tuesday afternoon and returned him home later in the week.
The pilots donate their aircraft, time, and expertise to help rural people in need.
Mr Katter said he was very grateful that someone had the drive to create a service that gives rural people a door to knock on, "sadly a frequent occurrence when you represent a rural area".
The charity has been operating for 21 years and has coordinated approximately 60,000 free flights in that time, helping 100,000 rural families access medical care taken for granted by those living in metropolitan areas.
Angel Flight CEO Marjorie Pagani ,who received the urgent request said the organisation prided itself on providing a unique service that not only helped people with health needs but the families whose lives are impacted.
This case was no exception," she said. "The success of Angel Flight is due to the fact that our pilots gain enormous satisfaction from giving their skills and resources to help fellow rural Australians in need. It is their way of making a very personal contribution to the community in which they live."
In addition to Angel Flight's core mission, in 2021, the charity saw other ways to assist the rural healthcare crisis and began flying health professionals and students on placement into rural and remote areas, an area they will expand on in 2024.
Despite being a vital service to rural Australians, Angel Flight has never received any government funding and for the first time is seeking government support to expand on its service to also transport health professionals in and out of rural areas.
Government support would fund an aircraft in every capital city, Cairns and Port Headland.
The jets would be on standby for Angel Flight's normal work of volunteer pilots transporting people to non-emergency medical treatment, which operates as usual, and would also ferry medical students to placements.
