Medical flights are a little-known, yet vital enterprise in the aviation sector. This type of air travel involves transporting individuals with medical conditions, transplant organs, and medical equipment and crews (often in critical situations).

Medical flights require many special considerations regarding logistics, equipment, space, and procedures to accomplish their mission, which deals with people’s lives.

For example, human organs can generally only spend a few hours outside the body before they become unusable for a transplant. Also, they frequently require special equipment, like Transmedics and Paragonix pumps, to preserve the organs until they get into the hands of the surgeons who will transplant them.

Moreover, many organ transplant flights are typically conducted in the wee hours of the night and on weekends. 

These factors put enormous pressure on businesses, hospitals, and other organizations that collaborate to organize and accomplish successful medical flights in a rapid timeframe as well as on the surgeons and medical teams that participate directly in the procedure.

On top of this, there is often a shortage of aircraft and crews to carry out these trips, which are essential for the health of many people.

ParaFlight’s Quest to Save Lives

Sim Shain is the founder and CEO of ParaFlight. Sim’s company offers medical flights, such as organ transportation and in-flight medical assistance, in commercial and charter flights for patients with various health conditions.

Sim is a certified paramedic who founded ParaFlight to honor the memory of his mentor, Steve Zakheim. Steve inspired Sim to become a paramedic and devote his career to saving as many people as possible.

Steve was a certified paramedic for more than 30 years, who died in 2013 from cancer that he developed due to his exposure to hazardous materials while rescuing and caring for 9/11 victims at Ground Zero. When this happened, Sim promised to continue Steve’s lifelong mission to save lives.

After that, Sim had the opportunity to help individuals in critical conditions looking for organ transplants. After knowing the difficulties those patients go through firsthand, Sim conceived ParaFlight to provide medical trips to people that need them.

After 29 years of serving the needs of hundreds of patients and families, Sim is an expert in the intricacies of organizing and coordinating health-related travels. 

A Call to All Operators and Private Aviation Companies

ParaFlight’s work depends on operators as well as the number of planes and crew members they have available. Sim’s company already has a robust network of operators collaborating with them nationwide. Still, it’s never enough for their goal of helping everybody that requires a medical trip.

“The only pain point we have is aircraft and crew availability,” Sim states. “If somebody would tell us, ‘here, you have as many jets and planes as you need, 24/7,’ we’d be able to take practically every transplant flight in the country from beginning to end.”

“We are doing our best to expand our network and partner with as many operators as possible. That’s why we developed our app, OrganFlights.com. The app is absolutely free and allows any Part 135 operator (provider of commercial, non-scheduled aircraft operations) in the country to register with us and offer their services.”

“But also, that is why we work with everybody that wants to work with us, even our competitors, because we are a mission-driven organization.”

Sim heartily believes in collaborating with anyone that can help ParaFlight and OrganFlights.com further the cause of saving lives—one flight at a time. He has already offered partnerships to various competitors and is ready to discuss numbers and logistics with whoever is willing to get on board.

“We’d love to see every operator and firm in the private aviation industry get involved as much as their business needs and capacity allow them. That way, we’ll be able to help many more patients and transplant centers who really need it.” If you’re interested in contacting Sim Shain, you can reach him on his LinkedIn profile or Facebook page.