Volunteers fly patients for free

BEND, Ore. – Sometimes the passengers – who may be flying to chemotherapy appointments in Portland – want to talk. They like discussing what they are going through or want conversation to take their mind off their health. Other times the passengers can be silent, crestfallen.

The volunteer Angel Flight pilots adapt based on the mood of their passengers. In addition to flying patients to their medical appointments without charge, most pilots want to help however they can.

“We can’t control the outcome … the only thing we can do is try to make life a little better on that day,” said Steve Magidson, a Bend resident and Angel Flight volunteer pilot.

He is one of a handful of local hobby pilots who participate in the charity. Angel Flight West is a regional wing of the national charity involving 13 Western states. Within the region, there are 1,900 pilot volunteers who together fly thousands of missions each year, primarily for people who need to reach a medical appointment far from home – often for cancer treatment.

The pilots, most of whom fly their own planes, donate their time and equipment and pay for fuel.

Bend resident Rob Breitbarth, the Central Oregon area leader for Angel Flight, became involved when he answered an ad calling for volunteers in Portland in 1998. He was one of 10 pilots to do so. Together the pilots formed the Oregon wing of Angel Flight. Once he got started, he couldn’t stop. “It’s really addictive, helping people,” Breitbarth said.

Breitbarth said 70 percent of the missions involve flying people with cancer and 30 percent involve flying children seeking medical treatment. The flights are for non-emergencies, and patients must be able to get on and off the plane. The patients also must be in some financial need to qualify for the service.

Often, Breitbarth said, fighting a medical condition like cancer absolutely devastates a family’s resources and therefore makes long-distance travel all the more difficult.

Some patients come from rural areas that don’t offer the services needed. Other times a patient has signed up for experimental treatment at a particular hospital.

Bend resident and Angel Flight pilot John Hayes believes people don’t always have the best image of private pilots.

“They look at people with their own airplane as a bunch of rich guys just doing their thing and living large. I don’t like that image.” Instead, Hayes wants to use his hobby and interest to give back.

Magidson has been a member of Angel Flight since 1995. He flies all of his missions accompanied by his wife, Cynde.

Sometimes the pilots don’t just fly patients. Breitbarth recalls helping a farmer in Idaho fly back and forth to Portland to be with his wife while she was undergoing treatments.

Hayes said they will also fly domestic-violence relocations, move supplies into disaster areas or transport guide dogs.

One of Breitbarth’s favorite passengers was Chloe Deputy, a young girl he flew from Baker City to Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland for cancer treatments. Breitbarth and other pilots flew the girl twice a week for a couple of years. He understands her cancer is now in remission.

When Magidson has gone to health care providers to speak with them about Angel Flight, the No. 1 question he hears is: Who pays the pilots? When Magidson replies, “No one,” the questions often continue. How are the pilots reimbursed? Does the health insurance pick up the cost? What about fuel?

Magidson says that although it can be hard to explain that pilots aren’t paid, most pilots wouldn’t have it any other way.”