My mother, Mary Lee, in her younger years.

Today is a special day of remembrance for me. It’s the third anniversary of my mother’s leave-taking. She died of lung cancer, and, as with all losses, her absence has left a great space. She lived in a small South Carolina town and took her chemo and radiation treatments locally. She was hospitalized in a regional medical center and lived only five months past her diagnosis. During the time of her illness, I kept thinking I would like her to go to one of the premier cancer centers where she could get the best treatment available, but given her age (82) and her husband’s (89), I knew they wanted to stay close to home and that they had full confidence in their doctors (though since then, my step-father has voiced doubts about the medical regimen she was put through).

This brings me to a question that our MMA leadership ponders quite often: How to reach a reluctant populace of patients such as those living in rural areas or those of senior status who represent a generation that never questioned the doctor, spelled with a capital D. Just as others do in a country whose health care is the most advanced in the world, these folks are entitled to advanced specialized treatment. For those with limited financial means, Mercy Medical Airlift is the answer to providing access to that care. And while we help many elderly and rural patients, we would like to help more. How to make our message resonate with them—that is the challenge.

Vicki S., of Madison, Kentucky, suffers from a rare disorder called “familial exudative vitreoretinopathy,” or FEVR. It’s a genetic progressive eye disease caused by a defective gene. Mercy Medical Airlift provided flights for Vicki and her brother, also a FEVR patient, to the National Institutes of Health to participate in a clinical study.

“Alone we are rare. Together we are strong.” That is the motto for Rare Disease Day on February 28. Ten percent of Americans suffer from a rare disorder, with many living lives of unimaginable pain, financial hardship, and social isolation.

The day is sponsored in the U.S. by the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) and in Europe by Eurordis (Rare Diseases Europe). It’s designed to bring heightened awareness to the fact that rare diseases are a public health issue. Also, it is to “celebrate the special relationship between patients and rare disease researchers.”

Visit www.RareDiseases.org to learn more. Read the patient stories. Read about the work of dedicated researchers. We owe it to our fellow human beings in the pain community who have much to teach the rest of us.

She’s been through a lot, but she’s full of joy

Nan Nan runs and tumbles with her friend Bear, a big, brown stuffed animal she drags through the kitchen, hallway, and every room in the Webster house she makes ring with her laughter. I am here for dinner with my friends, Jim and Beckie of Virginia Beach, and their daughter Stephanie Webster, who has escorted Nan Nan from China. It’s rewarding to meet this special little girl who has traveled from Jiangjin to the United States for medical care. Stephanie has lived and worked in China for the past six years and is the director of the China branch of Australia Relief and Mercy Services. Many helping hands came together to on her behalf, including one of MMA’s programs, the National Patient Travel Center.

The other parties that helped Nan Nan besides the National Patient Travel Center are Drs. Jeffrey Blount and Charles Law from Alabama Children’s Hospital; the Children’s Health System in Birmingham, which provided comprehensive health care and surgery at no cost; Grace Children’s Foundation, which gives medical, surgical, educational, vocational and humanitarian aid to orphans in China; and Continental Careforce, a nonprofit organization that provides “airline transportation to people who have to travel due to critical medical or personal situations” and gave round-trip tickets to Webster and Nan Nan valued at approximately $2,000 per ticket.

“She’s an amazing little girl,” Stephanie said. “She’s been through a lot, but she’s full of joy.”

Mercy Medical Airlift is in the news today as an important player in a drama involving a Haitian woman rescued from the brink of death and transported to her son’s side in Virginia Beach.

Solange Charles escaped from the building which trapped her when the earthquake struck on January 12 and managed to get to her truck, where she spent six days until her son, Joseph “Screwface” Charles, found her with a badly injured left leg and close to death. Screwface is a music producer living in Virginia Beach who went to Haiti to find his mom. She was airlifted from Haiti and hospitalized in West Palm Beach. You can watch this gripping story in the WVEC-TV news segment and scroll down to read about MMA’s role in providing a commercial flight for Mrs. Charles from Miami to Norfolk.

Thank God we can answer cries for help. And thank you, donors, for your financial gifts and unused miles that advance our vital cause.

Our business at Mercy Medical Airlift puts us in touch with hurting humanity 24 hours a day but also brings hope when we offer the gift of flight to patients who need to travel to distant, specialized medical facilities.  I’m reminded of a phrase used by Jesus as He offered relief for people’s grinding weariness, saying, “My burden is light.”

This is what we do here—we help make burdens light. And while, like any organization, we have to tend to the business side of  things—finances and efficiencies, technologies and marketing, forecasting, staffing, and trends as sudden and diverse as newly-spotted stars—keeping faith with the mission is what matters most. In our case, the mission is to make sure no patient in need is denied access to specialized, medical care because of inability to pay for air transportation.

We offer charitable flights in small, private planes through our volunteer pilot program. We offer donated commercial airline tickets through our special lift program. We offer discounted air ambulance flights through a program called Air Compassion America. We match patient needs with appropriate travel resources through our National Patient Travel Center Helpline that is operational day and night. In fact, the numbers just came in from 2009 showing we served 21,003 clients. That’s a lot of veterans and children, cancer patients, burn victims, the elderly, and patients with rare disorders whose lives have been improved or saved because, as we often hear from those we serve, “I was able to get the best medical care in the world.” 

We keep the torch of mission burning in many ways. Staff members rotate pager duty so they can answer after-hour calls from patients. The mission statement is displayed in all our offices. Our CEO inspires us at special luncheons and events when he shares from the heart. Many of us post pictures of our patients on bulletin boards and share their stories with each other and through our electronic and print newsletters. Compassion is our core.

When a sense of a higher cause infuses the workplace—especially when the place is a nonprofit charity like Mercy Medical Airlift—the details of daily operation—from running the overhead to sharpening a pencil—become significant as elements of a purposeful whole.

Suzanne Rhodes is the director of public affairs at Mercy Medical Airlift in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and the author of Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, Sacred Glances and several books of poetry. She assisted in the creation of an award-winning documentary, Compassion Takes Flight

The gift of flight can save a life, and we were overwhelmed to receive for our Angel Flight program a generous grant of $2,303.03 from Exxon Mobile Corporation in support of its Employee’s Favorite Charity Campaign. This contribution, released from the company’s facility in the Greater Washington area, is already being applied to our mission of providing patients in need with transportation to vital medical care. Thank you, Exxon Mobile and employees!

The Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic program is administered by Mercy Medical Airlift.

Waiting expectantly on the tarmac, Robin and I watched for the Cessna 340 air ambulance to land with its fragile cargo, a 66-year-old stroke victim and Navy veteran named John.  Robin Cron is the mission coordinator for Air Compassion America.  She and I were there to meet John and his daughter, Sherry Huhn, who were coming from St. Peter’s Hospital in Albany, New York to Virginia Beach on November 4, where John would be transported by ground ambulance to River Point Rehab.

Earlier, I had spoken with Jill Adam, John’s niece, who has been actively involved in her uncle’s medical arrangements.  She explained that Hampton Roads is home to him and that he had decided to retire in Virginia Beach after his last military assignment in Norfolk.   Sherry also lives in Virginia Beach.  She had flown up to Albany so as to escort her dad home.

Jill said that this past September, John and his wife, Tessie, were in New York for a reunion of his Navy buddies when he had a stroke right in the hotel lobby.  He was taken to St. Peter’s and stabilized, then later was transferred to a rehab unit. “He was scheduled to fly home on October 24,” Jill said, “but on the Friday before, he had another stroke.”  She said Air Compassion America made it possible for him “to come home.  He couldn’t have otherwise.”  That is because ACAM saved the family thousands of dollars. “I called four other air ambulance companies,” Jill explained. “The prices were from $13,000 to “$26,000. We’re paying $5,630, and that’s for bed-to-bed. Robin couldn’t have provided any higher standard of care.”

At last the plane landed, and we watched as medical workers carefully lifted the stretcher and patient out of the cabin and into the waiting ambulance. Other than John needing oxygen, the flight was uneventful. I had a good feeling inside as I watched his daughter kiss him on the cheek and welcome him home.  That’s what Air Compassion America is all about.

The Air Compassion America program is administered by Mercy Medical Airlift.

Today I’m having post-Oscar euphoria! (Okay, so it wasn’t the Oscars, but the international film festival I attended for the purpose of receiving an award on behalf of Mercy Medical Airlift and Cross and Flag Productions had plenty of bling—and it was right here in Virginia Beach at Regent University.)

The fourth annual Redemptive Film Festival screened the winning films on Friday night, October 16, including Compassion Takes Flight. Saturday’s Grand Awards ceremony was a semi-formal affair, and I had the honor of accepting the Redemptive Storyteller Award on stage and giving a brief acceptance speech.

Kudos to the filmmakers from 30 countries including the U.S. who were rewarded for their works of excellence and inspiration, and to the festival’s founder and director, Dr. Chris Cunningham, for promoting family-friendly films and for giving all of the festival proceeds to the International Justice Mission (www.IJM.org) to combat modern-day slavery.