Angel Flight West

A toddler needs care at a hospital 300-miles away for a condition her local doctors can’t treat. A senior living off social security can’t make an hours-long drive to see a specialist for a complicated illness. A single mom must travel out of state for complex surgery not available at any facility near her home. At Angel Flight West, we offer help and hope to people like these every day.

The ability to travel easily is something that most people take for granted. But for those in critical situations, the financial, physical, and emotional burdens can make an ordinary trip extraordinarily difficult. That’s when they turn to Angel Flight West. We remove transportation as a barrier to care by arranging flights donated by our extensive network of volunteer pilots and commercial airline partners, who donate all costs to make these important journeys possible.

In addition to medical flights, Angel Flight West missions include domestic violence relocation, and transportation for children and young people participating in specialty medical summer camps.

Our dedicated team manages the process that makes this work possible: arranging all missions, matching pilots with passengers, spreading the word throughout the healthcare and social work communities, and continuously recruiting new volunteers. It’s much like running a small airline, carried out with extra compassion.

All services are free to our passengers, their families, and health care organizations. Our Mission Coordinators handle each request with care and confidentiality. 

We’ve flown more than 109,500 missions since our founding in 1984, serving 12 western states on behalf of hundreds of patients. In Colorado, we’ve flown nearly 1,285 flights for residents in the past 10 years. Our health care partners include Children’s Hospital and the University of Colorado Health, along with smaller facilities and agencies across the state.

 

Overall, one-third of our passengers are children or youth, and 80% are designated at low- or poverty income levels.