Lori learned that she had breast cancer after receiving her first mammogram, on a cancer-screening bus that visits her remote community in Ontario. “In Red Lake, we don’t have many resident doctors anymore,” she explains. “If you have a big problem, you have to go out of town.”

Travelling long distances for treatment is not only stressful when you’re ill, it can also be prohibitively expensive. That’s where Hope Air comes in. This national charity provides flights and travel support, including hotel accommodations, meals and ground transportation, to patients who need medical help far from home.

Without Hope Air, patients like Lori would have to travel long distances by car, incur significant debt, or postpone or forgo treatment. Thanks to support from the non-profit, she was able to travel to appointments in Winnipeg and Thunder Bay without the added strain and cost of arranging all those trips. “I phoned Hope Air. They asked me a few questions and then followed up with doctors and that was it,” says Lori. “All I had to do was show up at the airport—I didn’t have to worry about a thing.”

Lori is just one example of the many patients Hope Air serves across a range of medical conditions and ages. Roughly one quarter of the patients they serve are children, and all are in financial need.

In 2023, Hope Air provided nearly 25,000 travel arrangements for 3,000 patients in 560 communities across Canada—almost 2.5 times the number of trips arranged in the previous year. “The current inflationary economy is straining the wallets of Canadians, causing a swelling of the ranks of those financially qualified to make use of Hope Air services,” says Donna Hill, who has volunteered with Hope Air for more than 20 years and served on its board of directors. “I distinctly enjoyed the one-on-one relationship with clients from coast to coast. I am always impressed with their positivity and resilience in the face of not only medical issues, but serious financial challenges as well.”

The organization depends on support from volunteers and donors to stay aloft, and CAA is honoured to help. CAA Club Group’s president and CEO, Jay Woo, is a volunteer pilot who flies patients to their appointments and has served on the board of directors of Hope Air. Since 2017, CAA has been hosting an annual golf tournament to raise funds for the charity.

Lori, who is now five years cancer-free, continues to share information about Hope Air with her community so that others can get the support they need. “You don’t know how much it meant, or it still means to have Hope Air,” she says.

With this service, more Canadians can focus on what really matters—their health.

CAA is proud to support the work of Hope Air. Visit hopeair.ca to learn more.