Meet Casey - Patient Advocate in Alaska

Thanks to generous support from Alaska Airlines , Angel Flight West is able to help patients in Alaska access their far-off medical care, including their treatment in the Lower 48. Each year, Alaska Airlines donates nearly 1,000 tickets to help people bridge the gap between their home and health.

Meet Casey, a patient advocate from Anchorage, AK. Casey has been referring patients to Angel Flight West for more than five years and has connected dozens of people to our services.

?Q + A?

Q: Could you tell us about your current occupation? How long have you been working in this position? Why did you become interested in your field? ??

A: I work as a patient advocate in an oncology clinic assisting patients with hematological and oncologic diagnoses.? I have been in my current position for nearly three and half years but have been a patient navigator/patient advocate for just over six years.?

I became interested in serving in this role after my own experience with a cancer diagnosis and having to navigate the many challenges associated with a serious illness, including traveling away from my home community for specialized care.? ?

Q: How did you hear about Angel Flight West? When did you start helping patients request flights? ??

A: I first learned of Angel Flight West from a social worker who was a patient navigator at that time.? She had been utilizing this service to support patients in remote/rural areas of the state.? I made my first referral in December 2017 and have been utilizing the service to assist patients since then.?

Q: How have your experiences requesting flights from AFW been??Without naming patients, have there been any particularly impactful experiences that you have had working with patients that you would like to share???

A: Over the years, I have requested many flights for a wide array of needs.? There are three that come to mind:?

The first is the first flight I requested. This was a gentleman with a terminal diagnosis hoping to enroll in a clinical trial only offered through MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.? While flights to Texas fall outside the program guidelines for Angel Flight West, the staff worked with me to request an exception for the patient, allowing me to book a round-trip ticket for the patient and his caregiver.?

Another impactful flight was assisting a family where both the husband and son of one caregiver needed to travel to Seattle for medical care.? Working with Angel Flight West staff, I was able to submit a request for all three members of the family to be able to travel for critical care.?

The final experience is for a patient who has been traveling for treatment for over six years.? She lives in a community on the road system where the drive takes over five hours during the summer and can take seven or more hours over the winter.? She has utilized her full benefit for each of the last three years and has been able to save several thousand dollars to help pay other costs of living and medical expenses thanks to this program.?

What would you want other healthcare workers to know about AFW??

The process for requesting flights has been streamlined to make the request process even more seamless.? The staff is phenomenal and extremely caring.? They go above and beyond to assist patients and will work hard to accommodate unexpected last-minute requests or special circumstances.?

The burden of traveling to treatment creates extra anxiety and stress for patients including financial burden, not just from travel costs, but having to be away from work.?Having support to help offset costs while facing a very expensive process is a huge relief for many, and this is the biggest piece of feedback I receive from patients utilizing Angel Flight West services.?

Angel Flight West provides a critical service.?

Thank you to Alaska Airlines for your ongoing dedication to helping patients travel to their far-off, life-saving treatments. #alaskaair #alaskacares #alaskaairlines #alaskacarelines

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?If you're a healthcare worker and want to learn more about requesting flights for patients, please visit our website or call us at (310) 390-2958. You can also email our team at [email protected] or send us a direct message on LinkedIn.