722 Free Miracle Flights Provided to Sick Children in February

WHY IT RATES: Through mostly word-of-mouth, Miracle Flights is helping more children battling critical illnesses by offering them free flights to their medical treatment centers. —Alex Temblador, TravelPulse Associate Writer

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The nation's leading medical flight charity Miracle Flights today announced a total of 722 commercial flights coordinated in February 2019 for critically ill children in need of life-changing medical treatment not available in their local communities—up 17 percent from February 2018's flight count of 617 and nearly 31 percent from 552 flights coordinated in February 2017.

Since its founding in 1985, Miracle Flights has provided 123,770 flights and flown more than 70 million miles to connect children battling rare and life-threatening medical conditions with the doctors who can best treat them.

Miracle Flights CEO Mark E. Brown credits the increase in flights to growing awareness and support of the Las Vegas-based national nonprofit and its mission.

"Word-of-mouth continues to be the primary way families hear about Miracle Flights as a resource to ease their financial burden of medical travel, which is a cost no private insurance company covers," said Brown. "As we broaden the network of families we serve and partners who support our cause, we continue to see growth in the number of patients we fly each month. That said, we never lose sight that for every family we serve, there are others still need. We are always on a mission to reach those families."

Most recently, Miracle Flights has aligned with national 3D greeting card company Lovepop, who announced its yearlong partnership with Miracle Flights on February 28—observed as national Rare Disease Day. Throughout March, Lovepop has donated a portion of proceeds from each of its 11 Lovepop Bear pop-up cards sold to Miracle Flights. After March, $1 from each Love Bear card sold through the end of 2019 will benefit the nonprofit's mission and help more sick children reach the care they need.

SOURCE: Miracle Flights press release