Flight Lines - Corporate Angel Network

Flight Lines
News for Friends of Corporate Angel Network - Summer, 2012
Corporate Angel Network Provides Milestone
40,000th Cancer Patient Flight
On May 7, 2012, Ronda Carter flew on Corporate Angel
Network’s 40,000th flight from her home in rural North
Carolina to meet with a breast cancer specialist in New York.
When asked about her feelings regarding the flight,
Ronda said:
“Cancer can make a person feel singled out in a
negative way. Being the 40,000th passenger makes
me feel singled out in a wonderful way. It’s my
first trip with CAN and my first corporate flight,
for my treatment at Memorial Sloan-Kettering
after being diagnosed with Stage IV cancer in
January. I’m proud to be a milestone passenger.”
This flight was provided by one of the many U.S.
corporations that fly cancer patients as part of Corporate
Angel Network. Often a patient’s best treatment option
is located hundreds of miles from home. Corporate
Angel Network (CAN) gives patients access to specialized
treatment that would not otherwise be available.
By taking a CAN flight, patients avoid the risk of
infection and the expense associated with commercial
travel. This was the case for CAN’s first flight in 1981 for
Michael Burnett. Michael, 18 years old, spent 2 ½ months
in a New York hospital, over five hundred miles away
from his home in Michigan. He was discharged from the
hospital a few days before Christmas with orders from
his doctor to avoid commercial travel. CAN was able to
provide him with a safe flight home.
Ronda Carter
with her husband
Jeff arriving in
New York for
treatment.
Since that first flight thirty-one years ago,
Corporate Angel Network continues to arrange free air
transportation for cancer patients traveling to recognized
cancer treatment centers throughout the United States
by using the empty seats on corporate aircraft flying
on routine business. A staff of six, with the help of 35
volunteers, works to match patient requests with the
flight schedules of CAN’s 500 participating corporations.
FlightSafety International’s Bruce Whitman Named
to Corporate Angel Network Board of Directors
Bruce Whitman, CAN’s
newest board member
Bruce N. Whitman, President and CEO of FlightSafety International,
has been elected to the Board of Directors of Corporate Angel Network.
“Bruce Whitman’s years of aviation industry leadership provide an
outstanding basis for the contribution he will make to the work of Corporate
Angel Network,” said Randall Greene, CAN’s Chairman of the Board.
Bruce has more than 50 years of experience in the aviation industry.
He worked for the National Business Aviation Association prior to joining FlightSafety International in 1961 as Assistant to the President. He
was appointed President & CEO in 2003. FlightSafety is the world’s premier professional aviation training company and supplier of full flight
simulators, visual systems and displays.
“It is an honor to help to further the important efforts of Corporate
Angel Network as a member of the Board of Directors,” said Bruce.
“Having arranged more than 40,000 flights for cancer patients and their
family members to date, CAN is a clear demonstration of the generosity
and caring that companies and individuals who operate business aircraft
have for those in need.”
From the
Executive Director
Corporate Angel Network
continues to break records.
More cancer patients were helped
in the past two years than ever
before. In 2010, 3,021 cancer
patients were flown to specialized
treatment and 2,900 patients
were helped in 2011. We’re
heading for a banner year in 2012
as well.
We celebrated our 40,000th
cancer patient flight this May,
transporting a patient from rural
North Carolina to meet with a
breast cancer specialist in New
York City. This was an exciting
milestone for both CAN’s staff
and volunteers.
We are pleased to welcome
Bruce Whitman to CAN’s
Board of Directors. Bruce, the
President and CEO of FlightSafety
International, a subsidiary of
Berkshire Hathaway, brings with
him a wealth of aviation industry
experience.
Our thanks to the 500 plus
corporations who generously
provide empty seats to our cancer
patients. Thanks also to our 35
volunteers who diligently work
at matching corporate flight
schedules with our patient’s need
to travel for treatment. It’s this
teamwork that makes our service
possible.
— Peter H. Fleiss
Flight Lines
Flight
Lines
Published by Corporate Angel Network, a national
public charity under IRC §170(b)(1)(A)(vi) and §509(a)
(1) that partners with over 500 U.S. corporations and
fractional owners, using the empty seats aboard their
aircraft to fly cancer patients to recognized treatment
centers, free of charge. Financial need is not a factor
in eligibility.
Corporate Angel Network
Westchester County Airport
One Loop Road, White Plains, NY 10604
Tel: (914) 328-1313 • Fax: (914) 328-3938
Toll-Free Patient Line: (866) 328-1313
www.corpangelnetwork.org
CAN Visits Hospitals Across the
Country
As hospital transportation resources dwindle, travel options for cancer
patients seeking the best treatment are daunting. Patients are often forced to
choose between a long, grueling drive or, if their immune systems will allow, a
costly commercial flight. This is where Corporate Angel Network flights make
an enormous difference.
Susan Cotten is CAN’s Manager of Patient Transport Development. Her job
includes traveling to hospitals across the country to educate their staff about
CAN’s service. She often hears about patient travel challenges from social
workers and directors at these centers.
After meeting with the staff at Duke University, case workers offered to
tweak patients’ schedules for specialized brain cancer protocols in order to make
more flight matches. When she met with social workers at Phoenix Children’s
Hospital, they mentioned little Ava, who appeared in a previous CAN website
video. They refer many children like Ava to CAN for flights to New York’s
Memorial Sloan-Kettering for specialized neuroblastoma treatment.
Cancer patients in less populated areas have also been helped by CAN
thanks to donated fractional hours. Social workers at the University of
Minnesota’s Amplatz Children’s Hospital were excited to share that a teenage
boy they treated is now doing well. He arrived there on a CAN flight with his
mother, who had never seen a plane up close, from South Dakota’s Pine Ridge
Indian Reservation.
Dedicated hospital professionals cope daily with many individuals fighting
cancer. The private aviation community has joined that battle through their
participation in CAN and ultimately by expanding the knowledge of cancer
treatments for everyone.
Words of Inspiration
Words cannot express my heartfelt
gratitude for the wonderful service that you
provided to me as I fought to overcome a
rare and serious form of cancer. Two months
of extensive chemotherapy and radiation for
my stage 3 esophageal cancer left me thirty
pounds lighter and extremely fragile and
weak. When we realized that I would have
to travel from my home in North Carolina
to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
in New York for my surgery, I worried about
my ability to navigate through busy airports,
Michael Nelipovich and
the risk to my immune system as well as the
his wife Brenda
daunting financial burden.
It was then that dear friends told us about Corporate Angel Network.
Frankly, we were amazed that huge corporations and their busy executives were
willing to reach out to ordinary people in their hour of greatest need. We were
thrilled that you were able to connect us with flights both pre- and post-surgery.
After 27 days in the hospital, four different surgical procedures with the
latest techniques and best surgeons in the country, and against all odds, I
am totally cancer free. I am convinced that Corporate Angel Network made
it possible for me to get a level of care not available near my home that was
necessary to save my life.
Not only were staff members patient, helpful and dedicated to making the
necessary travel connections, the folks associated with both corporate flights
treated us with a high degree of respect, compassion and concern for my
comfort. They never made us feel as if we were imposing. Thank you from
the bottom of my heart, Corporate Angel Network, for easing the difficulty of
a very challenging situation. I cannot imagine all the lives you have touched,
but rest assured that your generosity made a huge difference in mine.
Michael Nelipovich
Corporate Angel Award
Since 2001, Corporate Angel Network
has recognized participating corporations
and their flight departments who donate
empty seats on their aircraft to transport
cancer patients to specialized treatment by
presenting them with the Corporate Angel
Award. At BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company),
a recent award recipient, their Aircraft
Dispatcher Denise Cardona said, “It’s our
honor to participate in Corporate Angel
Network and be able to help these very special
patients and their families. It’s an extension
of BD’s focus on saving and improving
people’s lives.”
When discussing the commitment of
BD’s aviation team to CAN, Denise said,
“Everyone, from our VP of Aviation to our
pilots to our maintenance technicians, looks
forward to helping CAN when we have
availability. Personally, the CAN patients I
meet truly light up my life.”
BD flight department
General Mills flight department
General Mills was another recent award recipient. Director of Air Transportation Neil Brackin said, “Our
employees are always enthusiastic and welcoming of
CAN passengers. They get real satisfaction from helping
these people.”
Each Corporate Angel Award recipient is profiled
in a full-page ad in Business & Commercial Aviation
magazine. These ads are paid for by corporate cosponsors ConocoPhillips, Safe Flight Instrument
Corporation and Business & Commercial Aviation
magazine. Proceeds after ad creation expenses are
accumulated and then presented to CAN each year
during NBAA’s annual convention. Both Denise Cardona and Neil Brackin are eager to
spread the word among their aviation colleagues. Neil
said, “CAN acts like a seamless extension of our flight
department. We encourage any organization to partner
with CAN as the experience represents the best of
corporate citizenship and business aviation.” Non Profit Organization
U.S. Postage Paid
White Plains, NY
Permit No. 91
Westchester County Airport
One Loop Road
White Plains, NY 10604
Return Service Requested
CAN Now Serving
Patients in Hawaii,
Alaska and Canada
If your aircraft travels to Canada, or
stops for fuel in Hawaii or Alaska, please
consider offering a lift to cancer patients
who must travel for specialized treatment.
By extending our range, CAN hopes to
increase the number of patients flying to
life-prolonging treatment.
Hawaii residents typically request
flights to cancer treatment facilities on
the West Coast. Alaskans often receive
their treatment in the Northwest. To
help patients travel within Alaska,
ConocoPhillips Alaska and BP are now
offering empty seats on their bi-weekly
shuttles between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
CAN is pleased to answer the increased
needs of cancer patients in these areas
whose most effective cancer care may be in
the 48 contiguous states.
Dear Corporate Angels,
Thank you so much for
arranging our flight from
Texas to Wisconsin! We
are so blessed that we were
able to fly on a private jet,
decreasing Caleb’s chance
of getting sick. What an
awesome organization you
have! You really decreased
our stress about getting home.
We cannot thank you enough.
Caleb’s spirits were really
lifted as we flew on his “own”
plane!
Thank you! Thank you!
Thank you!
Love,
Trisha Teisl, Caleb, and family
Franklin, Wisconsin