Physicians Take Off
on Mission of Mercy
Even When Off Duty
by Jayasree Rao, MD
It is Saturday morning at 6:30, and while most
of us are still resting after a weary week of work,
two physicians have been up for at least an hour
preparing to engage in a voluntary mission to provide
free patient care in a most unusual manner.
The Mission: Fly a four-seater single-engine aircraft
on a cloudy morning to Brownsville, Texas and pick
up a passenger, “Jane.” Jane suffers from a rare disorder
known as Ocular Cicatricial Pemphigoid. She will
be transported by these flying doctors to Houston
Hobby airport, from where she will then be taken to
M.D. Anderson Treatment Center to receive specialized
care which is unavailable where she lives. After a
quick lunch, the physicians then take off to return to
Stinson Municipal Airport in San Antonio, their
home base, with the mission successfully completed.
Dr. Juan Carlos Gonzales is a dedicated Internist,
deeply involved in a growing private practice in San
Antonio. However, his commitment to patient care
does not end with his clinic, hospital rounds, or
being on-call.
This physician has opened his large heart to needy
patients on days off and on weekends, where he has
combined his passions for aviation and charity. An
instrument-rated private pilot, he donates his time
and his aircraft, a fully-equipped, 2006 Diamond
DA-40, to a project known as Angel Flight. He is
accompanied at times by his physician-pilot friend,
Dr. Rajiv Vasan, an Interventional Radiologist.
When asked what motivates them to spend time
on weekends taking part in these volunteer missions,
both physicians’ responses were without hesitation.
“Flying is an everlasting passion, and if I can
combine this with a charitable endeavor, it is all the
more fulfilling,” says Dr. Gonzales. “Angel Flight
has been very personally rewarding for me as a
pilot and a physician.”
Dr. Vasan says aviation has been a lifelong love,
and now, as a physician, he can combine two of
his passions.
“My grandfather was a WWII pilot, and I have
always been intrigued by aviation since listening to
his stories as a child,” he says. “I love to fly and take
every opportunity to get up in the air. However, one
can justify an expensive hobby much more by doing
something worthwhile for someone in need.”
Angel Flight is a non-profit charitable organization
of pilots, volunteers, and friends which
arranges free air transportation for any legitimate,
charitable, medically related need, specifically for
those people who are financially distressed or who
are in a time-critical, non-emergency situation due
to their medical condition.
Angel Flight has also flown blood products for
the Oklahoma Blood Institute and Red Cross in
emergency situations. However, a typical flight for
Drs. Gonzales and Vasan is to transport patients
from various regions in Texas requiring treatment at
specialized facilities such as M.D. Anderson in
Houston or the Shriner Hospital in Galveston.
Patients are usually traveling for surgery,
chemotherapy, dialysis, and other treatments.
Angel Flight is financially supported primarily by
the pilots who fly the missions (by donating the use
of their airplanes and operating expenses). There is
never a fee of any kind, either to the patient or the
health care provider, for an Angel Flight.
More information about Angel Flight can be found
on the Internet at http://www.angelflight.com.
And keep a lookout for Drs. Gonzales and Vasan
at Stinson Municipal Airport on any given weekend,
getting ready to take off and soar high on another
mission of mercy.
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