Reprinted with permission from www.ChartCharityArt.com
Angel Flight Southeast CEO Steve Purello Praises Pilots for Outstanding Service to Save Lives
The non-profit averages 3,000 missions for free transportation for medical or compelling humanitarian needs in the southeast with over 650 pilots and 300 volunteers.
As they often do the frantic calls came in the middle of the night to Fred Cutting, of Clearwater, and David Trilling, -of Lutz. In May, the volunteer pilots with Angel Flight Southeast were enlisted to transport two prospective Tampa Bay area transplant recipients to Miami for life-saving organ transplants
"It's unusual to receive two back-to-back requests for transportation of transplant patients in one week," said Steve Purello, CEO of Angel Flight Southeast. "What made this week even more exciting is that both patients were young children."
The first call came on behalf of Desmond Cleary of Clearwater. The nine-month-old boy was placed on the transplant wait list for a new liver after becoming ill last fall. Fred Cutting was the pilot who scrambled to ready his personal plane and fly Desmond and his mother, Charmaine, to Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami.
Unfortunately, the little boy did not receive the potentially life-saving organ, the fourth time the Cleary's made the stressful trip in hopes of having the procedure and was turned away.
Also in May, Angel Flight Southeast went to its list of volunteer pilots in the Tampa Bay area again after receiving a plea for a second emergency flight. This time Caleb Hall, a 15-month-old girl from Clearwater, was in line for a transplant operation at the same Miami hospital and Trilling answered the call to transport precious cargo swiftly within hours.
"Caleb's transplant has been successful! We are all done as of early this morning," wrote Tim Hall, Caleb's father, in a follow-up e-mail sent to Angel Flight Southeast. "God bless that pilot! He was wonderful!"
After the excitement of bringing one anxious family to a long-anticipated and ultimately successful appointment, Trilling was in the position to transport the disappointed Cleary family back home.
"It certainly has been bittersweet knowing one patient is on the road to recovery while the other youngster is still desperately in need of medical attention and other assistance," said Trilling. "I know that when his mother receives that ever important call, there are a number of Angel Flight Southeast pilots, including myself, who will be ready to drop everything to deliver Desmond in time to receive the new organ."
Trilling and Cutting are two of more than 650 volunteer pilots in the Southeast who donate their time, personal aircraft and fuel to Angel Flight Southeast passengers. Trilling was named the 2013 "Pilot of the Year" for the Central Florida West region last fall. Caleb's was Trilling's third transplant flight in the seven years he's been flying on behalf of Angel Flight Southeast.
"We are dependent upon the donation of time and aircraft from dedicated pilots. Each mission costs the pilot personally $500 to $600, which is a tax deduction for them. The pilots give us the resources so we can carry out the missions to match patients with care," said Purello.
Purello himself has donated time as a pilot for 17 out of Angel Flight's 31 years.
The charity does fund raising and community outreach programs frequently. Each year they paricipate in International Aviation Day at the airport in West Palm Beach. They host golf tournaments and galas. In April 2014, they hosted a 5K run at the Orlando Executive Airport, with 400 participants and 300 runners.
"I was making announcements about the need to get people organs that they need in a timely manner. At that moment, pilot Brad Pierce flew in on a chronic mission. The crowd cheered. It was a great real-life example of how these heroes help save lives," said Purello.
The heroes participate as
pilots but there are many ways to get involved. In the air are the pilots. On the ground there are the runners in the 5K races. In the offices are hundreds of volunteers. On the roads are the much needed volunteers to provide ground transportation from the airport to medical facility and back to the airport.
"One of Alan's regular passengers, Kathleen, flew in from Marathon Key and was transported to M.D. Anderson in the world's largest street legal four-by-four. She had to use a ladder to get in! We have fun with our missions and the patients at Angel Flight. There are so many people all over the southeast who donate their time and resources to make it work," said Purello.
Angel Flight is based in Lake County in Leesburg at the Leesburg International Airport. For fund raising at the main office, they do aircraft upholstery and interiors with profits going to Angel Flight.
Flying Colors Paint and Interior has been refurbishing aircraft for 25 years with profits benefiting the charity. They also have an office in Ft. Lauderdale at the executive airport with donated office space.
CONTACT www.AngelFlightSE.com
352-326-0761
Flying Colors Paint and Interior
www.FlyingColorsPaintAndInterior.com
