Fred Poage is a pilot.
“This is a 1996 Piper Mirage. So in aviation terms, it’s actually pretty new,” said Dr. Fred Poage, Angel Flight Volunteer Pilot.
He is also a medical doctor.
“I’m an ER physician here in Amarillo. I work at a couple of the local hospitals in town as well as some of the surrounding facilities,” said Poage.
The combination of being both doctor and pilot has fueled his passion as a volunteer for Angel Flight.
“It’s very, very important. These are not medical flights. This is not like medevac or life flights or those sorts of things, these are transportation flights. It’s to get patients to appointments,” said Poage.
“It saves money and time and it’s truly, you know, for somebody who’s doing it all on their own as a parent, it’s been a lifesaver for me,” said Lindsey Stiner, a frequent Angel Flight traveler.
“I’m the mom of an eight-year-old boy who was diagnosed in April of 2024. With D. I. P. T. He has undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy and multiple surgeries over the last 10 months,” said Baylie Barclay, Angel Flight traveler. ”With Angel Flight, we were able to get to appointments or hospitals four to nine hours away with no financial burden to us.”
“She was recovering from an anoxic brain injury and could not move independently during the first flight, and Dr. Polk stepped in with compassion to help us,” said Samantha Arenas, another Angel Flight traveler.
The financial benefits, though, are just one of the blessings provided by Angel Flight.
When it comes to loved ones and family, time can be much more valuable than money and expenses.
“It’s 100 percent free. There’s no cost for the patient, but that’s not the value. The value is in being able to spend more time with your family, with your loved ones,” said Poage.
We’re looking at six hours or 12 hours on the road if it’s a day trip. So being able to just hop on a plane, get there within an hour and a half, and then as soon as the appointment is over with, coming back after an hour and a half,” said Stiner.
The precious time element was something Dr. Pogge personally experienced with a terminally ill spouse.
“She fought ovarian cancer for six and a half years,” said Poage. “So we made a lot of those jobs, you know, the jobs from Amarillo to Dallas, from Dallas to Houston. Those are, those are taxing, right? We didn’t know anything about Angel Flight. Again, I wasn’t a pilot. We didn’t know anything about that.”
Inspired, he became a pilot with a passion to help others.
“The ability to give time to a patient or to their family is the most precious gift that you can give,” said Poage.
Including a final moments of life reunion for a patient recently.
“I was able to get down there, pick her up, and get her back, and she passed just a few days later,” said Poage. “Being able to talk to that mom so she could be there with her daughter in those last moments and celebrate the life that she had.”
The plane holds precious cargo with family members heading to flights and it saves them precious time in the process.