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| Blue Cullen, one of the patients Ed Patenaude has flown for Angel Flights Northeast. Cullen has traveled to Cape Cod Hospital many times for her radiation treatments, courtesy of Patenaude and Angel Flights NE. (courtesy photo) |
By Sydney Jarrard
Staff Columnist
RYE –
Ed Patenaude started volunteering as a pilot for Angel
Flight Northeast more than ten years ago. Angel Flight NE is a program
providing transportation to and from medical appointments for patients in need,
at absolutely no charge. It is supported by donations and corporate sponsors,
but an enormous investment comes from the 1,000 plus pilots who donate their
time and resources to the cause. In his time, Patenaude has flown more than 650
missions for Angel Flight.
Larry Camerlin, who is an avid pilot in Massachusetts and
has a background in health care and ministry, started the Northeast branch of
Angel Flight in 1996 with just ten volunteer pilots. It now has more than 1,800
volunteers and has served 60,000 patients in its time The program is supported
by the pilots who fly patients to appointments, the Earth Angels who provide
on-the-ground assistance, and the people who coordinate all of the missions
from behind the scenes. These flights help medically-stable and ambulatory
people reach the treatment they need as often as they need it, or reach a loved
one in their time of need (called “compassion” visits). The organization
does about 100 missions per week, and is proud to say that they have never
turned down a request.
When Patenaude signed up for flying lessons in 1976, he did
not expect to be where he is today, flying as many as ten missions in a single
week for Angel Flight NE. His interest in flying actually started with an
interest in a snowmobile for sale at a local store. The shopkeeper there
continually asked a price higher than Patenaude could pay. After being told to
return at the end of the season to receive a discounted price, Patenaude waited
out the winter and when it came time, the owner went back on his word and still
insisted on the higher price. Patenaude walked out of the shop, discouraged,
and came face-to-face with a sign advertising flying lessons – for the exact
amount of money he had saved for the snowmobile. It was meant to be. “I found
my passion,” says Patenaude.
Knowing his love for the air, a friend mentioned to
Patenaude an organization that helped patients get to medical appointments via
plane. He decided to sign up, he made it through the approval process, and he
tried it out. “It was pretty phenomenal,” Patenaude says. He began flying
patients regularly, and found that his Cherokee Six plane, with a rear door,
was easily accessible for his patients. He recently switched to a smaller
plane, a Mooney.
But he is looking to go back to using the Cherokee, because
for Patenaude, it’s all about the patients.
“Most of the time
the people we fly are very sick and at a tough time in their lives, and the
last thing they want to be doing is getting into a small airplane to go to
Boston for treatment,” says Patenaude, who took this realization and found
practices to make these trips better. He talks to the patient during the flight
through headsets, and he often invites the patient to sit up front with him, if
they are able. Some have been lucky enough to take a try at handling the
controls (with Patenaude’s help, of course). Seeing how difficult it can be to
battle a serious illness, Patenaude began requesting the same patients so he
could get to spend more time with them and make the trip easier, and so they
could get accustomed to having just one pilot. Beyond all that, he tries to
make it an enjoyable experience. “I’d like for you to see this as an adventure
in your life,” Patenaude tells them.
Patenaude says his work with Angel Flight has greatly
affected him. “You realize what’s important when you meet someone who’s going
through this,” he says. He receives holiday cards each year from former and
current patients, and he does get notices if one of his patients has passed.
Those days are not easy for Patenaude, he says, so he makes it a point to treat
people in his daily life with as much care and kindness as the patients he
flies. He knows that his patients have given him a positive experience, and he
wants to see the world embrace that, and pass it on. “We’re all kind of holding
hands. We’re on a journey here. It’s our job to help people out when they need
it. It helped my attitude. It helped me realize that you don’t have to take
life so seriously. It can be as short as another minute or another second from
now,” he says.
After the lessons, the FAA tests, meeting currency regulations,
and his career in the construction business, Patenaude has maintained his
passion for flying and for the enjoyment that his volunteering has brought. On
average, he flies three to four missions per week, and spends time remembering
the patients he has built amazing relationships with, even if he’s lost them
along the way. “You realize how lucky you are, to have what you have,”
Patenaude says. “We can all help out in some way. You don’t need an airplane.
It can be just holding a door.”
