Travel resources
Traveling to receive care from a provider experienced with laryngeal clefts is sometimes necessary. The following housing and transportation resources may be helpful when traveling for medical care.
Insurance coverage
Contact your health insurance carrier to find out if your plan has a provision for lodging and transportation expenses when traveling for medical care. In some cases, an employer’s human resource department may be able to confirm travel benefits for medical care.
Family resource centers
Pediatric hospitals often have family resource centers that list local housing options for families receiving treatment at their facility. Some centers also have access to hotel discounts, meal vouchers, and offer valuable area information. Contact the pediatric hospital you plan to visit.
Ronald McDonald House is a home away from home for families who travel for their child’s medical care.
Air travel resources
Air Charity Network (Angel Flight)
Air Charity Network (Angel Flight) provides free air transportation to specialized health care facilities. Angel Flight is composed of six nonprofits that cover six regions in the United States. If you are uncertain which chapter to contact, Air Charity Network will connect you with the right chapter.
Located in the heart of the Midwest, Angel Flight Central collaborates coast-to-coast, serving Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana.
Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic serves the residents of Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Kentucky, North Carolina, Delaware, Michigan, Ohio and Washington, DC.
Angel Flight NE provides free angel flights and ground transportation in nine states: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
Angel Flight South Central provides free flights for people in need of medical treatment. AFSE is based in Dallas and serves Texas, New Mexico, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma.
Angel Flight Southeast provides free flights to patients needing life-saving medical appointments who reside in Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bahamas.
Angel Flight West arranges no cost flights within the 12 Western states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Air Care Alliance is an umbrella group that arranges free flights through volunteer pilots by connecting those in need with volunteer agencies that serve their area.
Children’s Flight of Hope provides commercial airline tickets for a child and one companion to travel to specialized medical care at an accredited hospital within the continental United States. They also provide private flights on a limited basis.
LifeLine Pilots coordinate free flights for passengers who need to travel a long distance for non-emergency medical treatment. They provide flights to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
Mercy Medical Angels provides assistance with air and ground travel.
Northwoods Airlifeline is Michigan based. They provide flights within 650 miles of their headquarters.
PALS Patient AirLift Services provides medical and compassion flights for patients.
Wings of Hope provides flights to 26 states within a 600 mile radius of their St. Louis, Missouri, headquarters.
Wings of Mercy currently provides flights anywhere in the United States east of the Rocky Mountains.