Hope Air is not the sort of thing you'd need to think about if you lived in Toronto or some other large community in Southern Ontario.
But if you live in Northern Ontario where it can sometimes be difficult to arrange or even afford medical travel, the reason for Hope Air becomes obvious.
The organization is a national charity that provides essential travel and accommodation service to people who normally cannot afford non-urgent medical travel outside of their home community.
This week in Ontario, friends and supporters will observe June 7 as Hope Air Day, said a news release.
Amanda Gun-Munro, a media spokesperson for Hope Air, said municipal leaders representing such communities as Sudbury, Timmins, Hearst, Sault Ste. Marie, and Marathon, will join Hope Air in advocating for critical funds and services by issuing their own proclamations.
A special event is planned for Timmins where roughly 20 volunteer aircraft pilots will join Canadian country music artist and pilot Cory Marks, who will perform a live concert with participation by patients, pilots, community officials and industry leaders.
Gun-Munro said the idea of Hope Air Day is to raise awareness across the North — and in the halls of the Ontario legislature — of the importance of having a sustainable and government subsidized medical air service.
She said this is not like Ornge, the government funded air ambulance system and medical transport for people who are critically ill or injured and need specialized medical help right away.
Gun-Munro said Hope Air is there to help people who need non-emergency medical care that does not exist where they live.
"They need access to specialist care, but it's not available for them in their markets, which means that they have no choice but to travel to places like Toronto or Hamilton or London where they've got more specialist services like at McMaster or SickKids, for example."
She said Hope Air exists to give ordinary people a chance to get the health care they need without having to worry about upfront costs related to things such as the Ontario Travel Grant.
"So one trip for one person from, say, Thunder Bay or Timmins to Toronto is something like $2,100. You know, think about that if you've got to layer in another child or another support person to come with you. And think about that, if you've got to have multiple times a month. It's a lot for a person to shoulder. So having that financial burden off of your back when you're already dealing with a medical situation is a huge relief,” she said,
A recent survey carried out for Hope Air said one in four Northern Ontario patients canceled medical appointments because of distance while one in five canceled medical appointments because of cost.
The same survey said the majority of Northerners believe that the province should pay for the cost of medical care.
"So the primary objective is right now we need to get the attention of the government and have them understand the urgency in terms of what's going on in the North, and I think they do. So we need to get their attention to see that Hope Air can be hand-in-hand support for them," said Gun-Munro.
Northerners seeking assistance for non-urgent medical travel can find out more on the Hope Air website.
Len Gillis covers health care and mining for Sudbury.com.
