Volunteer-run medical flight service receives $500K to buy new plane
$100K will be delivered annually to Angel Flight East Kootenay over 5 years
A volunteer-run B.C. airline is receiving $500,000 from the Regional District of East Kootenay to continue free flight services for people seeking non-emergency medical services outside the region.
On Friday, the district unanimously approved a grant of $100,000 annually for five years for Angel Flight East Kootenay — a Fernie-based charity established in April 2019 — to buy a $400,000 plane and to cover the charity's operation expenses.
Angel Flight's planes — which are mostly small single-engine aircraft owned by volunteer pilots — fly to Kelowna from airports in Kootenay communities including Cranbrook, Creston, Golden, Invermere, Nelson and Sparwood.
"Our route is very challenging, and even in our single-engine aircrafts, we have to go up to 12,000 feet [about 3,700 metres], which means we always have to carry oxygen for the patients," Angel Flight president Brent Bidston said Monday to Chris Walker, host of CBC's Daybreak South. "With the pressurized aircraft, we don't have to worry about that."
Bidston — a retired commercial airline captain who worked for B.C. Ambulance Service for a decade — hopes to purchase a double-engine pressurized aircraft with de-icing capabilities.
He says the new aircraft would be able to fly above the atmospheric turbulence his pilots often encounter.
Without the flight service, patients and their caregivers face long road trips and big bills for accommodations.
Bidston says his charity has operated more than 180 flights over the past two years, helping 127 patients who had medical appointments in the central Okanagan. The flights prioritize cancer patients and children under the age of 15.
Angel Flight's planes don't service passengers who require emergency treatment while in the air. Most emergency patients are airlifted by B.C. Emergency Health Services.
New plane to be bought in six months
Angel Flight has been receiving funds raised by community groups and local businesses. Bidston said he will discuss with the regional district's chief financial officer this week on how the $500,000 grant will be delivered to the charity.
He expects the new aircraft to be purchased within six months after the money is received.
"With any money we receive, we expect oversight," he said. "We always keep a very careful track of where every cent of it goes."
The cost to the charity of transporting one patient and their caregiver from Cranbrook to Kelowna is approximately $700 round-trip.
Bidston says he hopes non-emergency medical flights will become provincially-funded one day, but says there's still a long way to go.
Tap the link below to hear Brent Bidston's interview on Daybreak South:
With files from Daybreak South and Bridgette Watson