On June 27, Miracle Flights announced that the charity has performed a record number of medical flights during the 2016-17 fiscal year, which ended in April 30, 2017. Based in Las Vegas, Miracle Flights is one of the leading medical flight charities in the nation and provides commercial air transportation for free to those in need.
4.5% increase in Number of Flights Performed the Previous Year
Miracle Flights ended their 2016-17 fiscal year with a record 8.226 flights. This is a 4.5% increase from the 7,868 flights performed the previous year. The charity was also able to set a monthly record for the month of April by coordinating 1,484 flights. During April of the previous year, they completed 1,243 flights.
Mark E. Brown, CEO of Miracle Flights has stated that there has been a steady increase in the number of medical flights their organization has been able to coordinate. The charity has been in operation for 32 years since 1985. During this time, they have coordinated a total of 108,242 flights. And overall, they’ve flown a total of 60,690,000 miles.
Helping Patients with Varying Conditions through Medical Flights
Miracle Flights has provided their service to patients with all kinds of conditions. Last year, the most common medical reason for their flight requests was a rare joint condition known as arthogryposis. This is followed by clubfoot and then different kinds of cancers. Their most frequent destinations were Boston Children’s Hospital, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and Chicago’s Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Brown also stated that many of the patients they flew were repeat flyers, who require multiple flights for ongoing medical treatment. For instance, there’s a girl in California who has stage IV neuroblastoma cancer and needs to travel to New York regularly for treatment. Miracle Flights have performed 21 flights for her.
