For 89-year-old Clara V., a post-stroke victim with no use of her legs, the nightmare of Katrina became unbearable. She was in a New Orleans nursing home when a nearby levee ruptured. Clara was evacuated to the rehab wing of River West Medical Center in Plaquemine, La., but because she had been without her psychiatric medications, she suffered from dementia and began hallucinating. Only one family member, a niece named Cindy W., from Marietta, Ga., was able to take her in, but no funds were available for an air ambulance flight.

Once the elderly woman was stabilized, Air Compassion America (ACAM) provided a charitable flight on Sept. 12 in a Citation jet to take her from Baton Rouge to Atlanta. Flight time was about an hour and a half; the cost, paid in full by ACAM, was $5,516.Cindy says the flight was fabulous and that she is telling everyone about Air Compassion. She spends six hours a day with her Aunt Clara, who is cared for in a nursing home and called “Sassy” by the other residents! Clara turned 90 on Dec. 12.

Frank, 73, and his wife Marion, 74, were stranded in a New Orleans hospital following Katrina. Frank, a Parkinson’s patient, had been evacuated to Bunkie General Hospital, and Marion was by his side. Without medication, his condition had worsened and he was curled up in a fetal position. The couple lost everything in the hurricane and had nowhere to go. Their daughter, Cheryl, who lives in California, called ACAM with hopes of getting an air ambulance so her parents could join her.

ACAM was able to arrange and fund a flight on Sept. 9, with Frank and Marion traveling on a Lear 25 jet. The plane was staffed with a nurse and a respiration therapist. Frank was admitted to Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills, Calif., and Marion moved in with her daughter.