Our primary mission is to provide the air transportation within a 500 nautical mile radius of St. Cloud MN. This includes South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin although we have been known to fly into other states on occasion. The Wings of Mercy, Minnesota Inc. program has flown 627 mercy missions from inception through the end of September 2005, our 10th year in existence. 57% of these missions have been children. Wings averages 5.10 missions per month. 90% of our missions are conducted Monday through Friday during the business hours of 8-5.
The beneficiaries we fly must prove financial as well as medical need. Our beneficiaries are not emergency victims. Most of our beneficiaries are referred to us by social workers and clergy. Our beneficiaries are medical patients who receive follow-up treatments for cancer, cerebral palsy or a premature baby with breathing problems. Or the beneficiary could be a farm accident victim that may need spinal surgery. All of our beneficiaries have medical insurance. All doctors, nurses and medical personnel in the hospitals are getting compensated.
Our beneficiaries are not able to be transported via van, bus, or train for a number of reasons; their bodies simply cannot make it onto the van, bus or train or they or their caregiver, have already missed so much work due to the illness that any more time off for the longer trips such as the van, bus or train would put them on the unemployment line, thus losing medical insurance and their standard of living.
Our beneficiaries have scheduled appointments for their treatments, sometimes months in advance. Canceling a flight on behalf of Wings would be detrimental to the recovery of our beneficiaries. Our program would cease to exist due to the beneficiary not being able to trust us to get them to their destination on time.
Beneficiaries needing air transportation must meet the medical, financial and physical condition criteria. Many hospitals, medical centers and social service organizations are familiar with these requirements. Inquiry regarding these criteria are also available by email (see below) or by calling us…
1-800-98-MERCY.
Richard LaBute, Wings of Mercy Flight Director
Click here to E-mail Wings of Mercy Patient Information Request