4MyChild: Help and Hope for Life

November 21, 2006

Help with Travel: Free Airline Tickets for Families Seeking Medical Treatment and Therapy

Many families struggle dealing with never ending finances of cross country travel when trying to get the best possible medical care for their children with cerebral palsy and other types of brain injury. There are several organizations set up to these families.

This terrific organization, http://www.patienttravel.org/, helps families make long distance travel arrangements and provides a variety of services to those seeking a way to travel long-distances for specialized medical evaluation, diagnosis and treatment.

PatientTravel.org is a continuation of the original National Patient Air Travel HELPLINE (NPATH) site which has been serving patients since 1998. This site now receives more than 4,000 visits per month.

Their web site is a service of the National Patient Travel Center, the facility housing all the programs of Mercy Medical Airlift, a national charity. The Center is in Virginia Beach, Virginia and offers services to people looking to travel long distances. Typically you would receive an airline ticket for your child and caregiver.

The National Patient Travel HELPLINE can be reached on 1-800-296-1217. It is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Information on their website, www.patienttravel.org will also help you understand the availability of resources that help patients in time of transportation need.

If you would like to donate money or time to this wonderful organization please visit http://www.patienttravel.org/giving.htm

The Air Care Alliance site lists humanitarian flying organizations whose volunteer pilots are dedicated to community service. This ACA site will introduce you to all the groups we list whose volunteers perform public benefit flying for health care, patient transport, disaster relief, environmental support, and other missions of public service.