World traveling Administration leaves terminally-ill veteran stranded

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http://www.thetribunepapers.com/2013/03/29/world-traveling-administration-leaves-terminally-ill-veteran-stranded/

Published on March 29, 2013 in Asheville, Hendersonville,
News Stories, Roger
McCredie
 

(Left to right) Dr. Kenneth Kubitschek, Master Sergeant Michael Dishon, Mike
Summey – Pilot

Air Force says
Sequester budget cuts prohibit military transport

By Roger McCredie -

[Asheville, NC] A private aircraft climbed into a cloudless Good Friday sky,
bound for the nation’s capital.  Its mission: to fetch a local veteran
back to spend his final days near his family.

The plane, which was given the call sign  HRF (for “Hero Flight”) 65, is
owned and flown by Asheville businessman Mike Summey. Also on board were
reserve pilot Greg Byrd, and Dr. Kenneth Kubitschek of Carolina Internal
Medicine who was volunteering his own time to act as accompanying physician.

The patient is retired Master Sergeant Michael Dishon, a 20-year Air Force
veteran who was recently medevaced from Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the
army’s largest hospital outside the U.S. proper, to Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center in Washington.  Dishon suffers from chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and has now been diagnosed with terminal
Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, an aggressive form of cancer that invades the lymph
system.  On arrival, Dishon will be transferred to a local hospice
facility.

Summey said he learned of Dishon’s case when he was contacted by the Veterans
Airlift Command, a small nonprofit that enlists the aid of private pilots to
transport ill and wounded veterans in cases where military transport is not
available or feasible and ground travel is not advisable.

 

Jen Salvati, VAC Operations Manager, said that Dishon’s illness had been
designated as 100 percent service-connected since he contracted it while still
on active duty, and that he thus would ordinarily have qualified for military
air transport; however, she said, she had been informed that funding for such
mercy flights has been curtailed by Sequester budget cuts and that the armed
forces have been appealing to private sources for help.  “We got a call
from Sgt. Dishon’s social worker,” she said.

“It’s a duty and an honor to be doing this,” Summey said.  “For me it’s an
uplifting experience.  But I can’t help noticing
the irony that the President of the United States can spend a million dollars’
worth of taxpayer money to have Air Force One fly him to a golf game with Tiger
Woods but the Air Force can’t afford to fly a terminally ill veteran with a
hundred-per-cent service related disability to his hospice.”

Salvati said the Veterans Airlift Command headquartered in Minneapolis,
was started by her father, Walt Fricke, a Vietnam War helicopter pilot. 
The organization, administered only by Fricke, Salvate and mission coordinator
Maria Miles, now comprises some 2,200 private pilots across the U.S., such as
Summey, who usually undertake their missions at their own personal expense.

“We usually deal with combat wounded, but this [Dishon’s case] was a worthy
exception,” Salvati said.  She added that the fact that military transport
was not available might in a way have been just as well.

“He would probably have had to wait for available space,” she said.  “That
could have meant being on call for days, and even then you don’t know whether
he’d be getting proper attention.  And commercial flights are just as
bad.  At least this way he’ll have a doctor and oxygen with him and we
know he’ll be made comfortable.”

Dishon’s daughter Samantha was due to accompany her father back to Asheville,
where they would be met by another daughter.  The flight manifest listed
two passengers, one weighing 150 pounds, the other 105 pounds.

The 105-pound passenger was Dishon.

_____________________________________

Original Email Requesting Summey’s Assistance

Sent: 3/26/2013   10:25:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight
Time Subj: VAC Mission from Washington, DC to Asheville, NC 3/29

We have a slightly out of the box mission opportunity
this   week:

Retired 68 year old USAF MSG Michael Dishon was
medivaced   from Landstuhl to Walter Reed for chronic obstructive
pulmonary disease.   Michael has Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and is going to be
entering hospice care in   Asheville, NC.  He is 100% service
connected disabled (cancer). Due to the sequester, the Air Force cannot fly him
there (they   normally would have been able to accomplish this on an
exception   basis).

We would like to help this veteran get to his hospice
care   comfortably (doctors say driving is not ideal).  Please
let me know if  you are able to help.  He will be traveling with his
daughter and oxygen.

Washington, DC to Asheville, NC 3/29

2 pax-weights 103 and 152

Thanks
for considering this mission.

Jen Salvati Operations

Manager Veterans Airlift Command

www.veteransairlift.org

2013-04-01 04:35:40

Source: http://nesaranews.blogspot.com/2013/04/world-traveling-administration-leaves.html