BLUE BELL, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Angel Flight East (AFE) is a nonprofit organization that facilitates free air transportation for seriously ill patients, which it calls its “missions of mercy.” Due to AFE’s significant growth and expanding audience of medically and financially distressed patients, Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) announced that it would sponsor the nonprofit -- not only to provide financial support, but also to honor the organizations’ history together.
Known for its Mother Standard® of care and Patient Empowerment Medicine®, CTCA is a national network of hospitals that provides a comprehensive, fully integrated approach to cancer treatment. The organization serves patients with complex cancer from all 50 states at facilities located in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia, Tulsa and suburban Phoenix.
Over the past four years, AFE flew a total of 279 CTCA missions for 38 CTCA patients from 10 different states, covering a cumulative distance of over 60,000 miles. The percentage of AFE’s missions involving cancer patients grew steadily during this time, and currently stands at 50 percent.
“AFE and CTCA have relied on each other for years to support our mutual patients,” says AFE President Adam D. Zucker, Esq. “We’re extremely pleased that our organizations are officially collaborating to help our patients and are thrilled to receive such generous support from CTCA.”
The “On Angels' Wings Gala” -- an AFE banquet that will honor its pilots on Friday, April 27, 2012 at Normandy Farm in Blue Bell, PA -- rekindled the organizations’ relationship, as CTCA committed $20,000 to the event. The contribution will be applied to flight coordination and educational outreach, serving medically distressed patients and families in the organizations’ mutually supported geographic areas.
“AFE’s ‘missions of mercy,’ provide an opportunity for patients to choose a medical center that is best for them, even if that means traveling far from home,” says John McNeil, President and CEO of CTCA in Philadelphia. “CTCA is honored to sponsor AFE and work together to ensure that patients can get to the treatment center of their choice and continue to focus on what’s most important -- their healing.”
For more information about AFE and the On Angels’ Wings Gala, visit www.angelflighteast.org. To learn more about CTCA, go to www.cancercenter.com.