Opening Skies for Sick Kids: How Miracle Flights Helps Families Reach Lifesaving Care
In this episode, we speak with Dana Jarvis from MiracleFlights.org, a nonprofit that has provided more than 165,000 free flights over the past 40 years to help children access specialized medical care not available near home. Serving all 50 states, Miracle Flights covers commercial airfare for pediatric patients aged 17 and under who must travel for treatment of rare, chronic, or complex medical conditions. Dana explains that once a child flies with Miracle Flights even once before turning 18, they become eligible for continued support as adults for future medical needs, ensuring long-term access to care.
Dana highlights how Miracle Flights assists families facing conditions that often require multiple follow-up visits, such as organ transplants, neuroblastoma, or club foot. She describes partnerships with top hospitals like the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and the Paley Foundation in Boca Raton. The organization focuses on removing logistical and financial barriers so parents can choose the best possible specialists for their children.
The discussion also explores how Miracle Flights has modernized and simplified the application process. By visiting miracleflights.org and clicking “Request a Flight,” applicants can complete nine brief pre-screening questions in just a few minutes to determine preliminary eligibility. The process is intentionally transparent and compassionate, minimizing paperwork and providing fast clarity to families under stress. For more details, applicants can consult the checklist and FAQ sections on the website.
Advocates and healthcare professionals can reach out directly to Dana Jarvis at djarvis@miracleflights.org to schedule informational presentations or learn how to help clients apply. Whether supporting a transplant follow-up or a specialized procedure, Miracle Flights aims to make sure no child is denied critical care simply because of distance.
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Transcript
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Host
We are talking with Dana Jarvis today from Miracle Flights. Miracle Flights is a nonprofit organization that a lot of the advocates that I've already talked to on this podcast are familiar with. And we decided to have them on to talk about what it is that they do and who they help. Dana, thank you so much for being on the podcast with me.
Dana Jarvis
Thank you so much, John. I really appreciate the opportunity.
Host
So for people who've never heard of Miracle Flights, tell us what your mission is, what you guys do, who you serve, and how long you've been doing it.
Dana Jarvis
Absolutely. Miracle Flights, we are a 501c3 nonprofit. We are out of the United States. We serve all 50 states and we have been around for 40 years. And in that time, we've actually provided over 165,000 flights to children who need to reach distant medical care not available in their local or immediate regional communities.
Oftentimes we're dealing with children that have specialized conditions, rare conditions, or just basically conditions that they do not have the treatment options available to them just in their immediate local area. And sometimes there's only a couple of specialists in the entire country that treat that type of condition.
Host
Yeah, I mean, it's such an amazing service. And I know that there are a lot of conditions for children. just to be clear, children is defined as what age to what age.
Dana Jarvis
Thank you.
Dana Jarvis
Sorry, yes, thank you for clarifying. pediatric, for our purposes and our policies, age 17 and under are the ages that we serve for our initial first time patients that we are flying. And I'll actually add something to that that is not discussed a whole lot, but I feel like this is a pretty big value add that we have. For patients that fly with us even one time,
ever before the age of 18, they do then become eligible to potentially continue receiving medical related flights as long as they qualify under all of our other program criteria for the rest of their life, regardless of age and not necessarily related just to the condition that they presently have. So I do like to share that message far and wide because
Host
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Host
wow, I didn't know that. That's new for me too.
Dana Jarvis
Oftentimes when you're dealing with children with chronic or specialized conditions, sometimes it's not just as easy as resolving that issue by the age of 18 and it's over and done with. Sometimes these things can linger for many years after. So we want to make sure that we're really taking a comprehensive approach to assistance as much as we can.
Host
And what you said is, me, let me clarify, cause this is new to me. So let's say, you know, I have a 16 year old son or daughter or a client I'm working with as an advocate and God forbid, you know, they, they contract a chronic illness. and.
It goes, you know, the treatments, there's nothing, I'm in a rural area and I have to get to this metro area and it's it's a flight away. And so you guys are providing flights. So in addition to the actual treatment possibly being covered, you know, those flights being covered after the age of 18, if there becomes a secondary issue, maybe a comorbidity issue, because you're already in the system, there's a possibility that even those flights might be covered.
Dana Jarvis
Certainly, yes, yes. We really look at it from a holistic approach. Once you're in the Miracle Flights family, you're in the family. You're part of the family going forward at that point, which is part of the reason why I really try to kind of share when I speak with children's hospitals, with disease foundations, with...
social workers, with case managers, on and on and on. And to all of you who may be professional advocates, I really just encourage for you to look into our program services, especially if you're dealing with adolescent patients who may really fall into this type of category. They might be 14, 15, 16, and it's really unclear how much longer their serious symptoms or...
specific disease issues may be occurring and what they could potentially kind of turn into as the years pass. And we have folks that have had have received 10, 20, 25, even more flights over the course of their, you know, between their youth, their childhood, their young adulthood. And yes, and we do not kind of really get into the details of
Was it this condition this time? Was it that condition that time? But we do have eligibility criteria. And that's something that for anyone that may be interested in having your group, your organization receive an informational presentation, I get into all the details of all of the real nitty gritty specifics of that. So that is one thing that is a requirement is to meet our additional eligibility criteria.
Host
Yeah, of course, of course.
Dana Jarvis
I'll let John mention some other points on that.
Host
Sure. Well, I mean, let's talk about some of, you know, there are some things that come to mind that are obviously immediately, obvious, obvious. I don't know how to say it. Like, you know, if someone, God forbid has, as like a cancer diagnosis and there's a treatment that's only available because it's a unique type of cancer in let's say UCLA, right? Or if there's a transplant issue and so they need to go to the Mayo clinic, but there's probably other things that people aren't thinking of.
Dana Jarvis
Yeah. Yeah.
Host
that don't come to mind right away. Can you think of a couple case studies that, because you're obviously familiar with a lot of them, where you wouldn't think that that would necessarily need flights, but it did.
Dana Jarvis
Well, and this may be more on the obvious side. It's always hard to know what exactly strikes people as obvious or not in this type of situation. But one of the areas that we really shine and that when I give presentations, they're really the most excited about us existing is when I'm talking with pediatric transplant teams and pediatric transplant groups,
Host
Mm-hmm.
Dana Jarvis
especially related to the ongoing treatment that is required related to transplant. Now, I'll just always clarify, and I always give this upfront disclaimer when we're talking about transplants, because obviously there's always the initial, often very urgent, life flight type of circumstance. Now, Miracle Flights is not, probably not the organization for you in regards to if you are needing a
flight in 12 or 24 hours or less. That's not exactly how our organization operates. However, where we really step in and shine and come into play in these transplant cases is for those who may be aware or unaware, transplants require a lot of ongoing follow-up visits. Oftentimes it will be at one week after transplant.
three weeks after transplant, a month, two months, three months, on and on and on. And some of our best pediatric transplant facilities in the country are actually located in kind of not always the most populated areas. I know one that just strikes me is speaking to University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.
And they were even saying that's one of the struggles that they often have is that's a fairly lowly populated portion of the country and also not as much air travel, not a very large airport. So these kinds of things are just good to kind of keep in mind when you're thinking about Miracle Flights is this is gonna open up.
the options, the choices that family members or families, parents have of places that they could potentially go that are the best fit for the child's condition. Another one that comes to mind is, I remember recently speaking to the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin. They have a very good program related to neuroblastoma cases. And it's very, very specialized, very...
Dana Jarvis
very intricate condition, obviously I can't relate to a cancer. And these also require very multiple follow-up visits, very delicate, it's very important that the treatment provider that they're dealing with is the same person, that they're making sure that there's a continuity of care over a period of time.
So this is just one of so many, so many different issues that we get into. If I could just mention one more, the Paley Foundation out of, and I believe Boca Raton, yes. They have an incredible club foot treatment program that's really, I believe, unparalleled in the nation for restoration of kids that have club foot.
Host
Yeah, of course.
Dana Jarvis
And we've sent so many children there and they've really been able to provide just incredible assistance to restore functioning at really the highest of levels that is, like I said, almost unparalleled. I'm sure there's all sorts of organizations that are attempting to kind of rise to that level now, but.
The list really just goes on and on and on of organizations that are really just doing amazing care. And that's really what I found over the time working with facilities, talking to parents, is this opens up so many opportunities for parents that have read research studies, who have even read medical journals and heard about surgeons and doctors that are really the top of their field.
but they thought maybe this isn't something that's going to be an option to me because we don't have this either our insurance only covers X amount of flights or whether or not folks are on maybe a Medicaid and there's a lot of rules and restrictions. This just, kind of, we kind of just pull off all the barriers, tear away all the red tape surrounding all of those kind of programmatic issues that folks come across.
Host
Yeah, it's it always pains me when we hear of an organization. I mean, at the end of the day, you're trying to provide free flights for children who need to get somewhere for their medical care and more people don't know about it. It's so sad because this is a service that clearly thousands and thousands of people need every year and people don't.
do anything about it or reach out simply because they don't know you or they're intimidated by the process because maybe they went to a different organization where there was a long and cumbersome process to get approved or they thought maybe they wouldn't get approved because they, you know, reached some kind of financial threshold or something like that. So let's talk a little bit about how you guys have really tried to make that a lot more streamlined and less intimidating.
whether you're applying or helping someone apply as an advocate to get qualified and see if they qualify for these amazing miracle flights.
Dana Jarvis
Absolutely. And thank you for mentioning this point, John, because this is really my rallying cry, regardless of who I'm ever speaking with, as I've worked in the nonprofit and governmental social services sector for many years. So I am well aware of some of the issues and problems that folks, and I'm very sensitive to and empathetic of.
the issues that a of times folks have encountered applying to different organizations over the years that can just be so sadly cumbersome. It can be often a very cumbersome process to get through time consuming and frustrating and frankly disappointing. So that is really why at Miracle Flights, we have worked time tirelessly, I would say, in revising and re-
re-addressing kind of any issues over and over on our application process. So anyone that may be interested, all they need to do is go to our website, miracleflights.org, and we have in the upper right-hand section, it says request a flight. That is, I'd just like to start there in case anyone as they're watching this wants to even follow along.
Host
Yeah.
Dana Jarvis
Through that process, the first place to always start is there's a section right beneath the application for you click in that says checklist. On that checklist, it's going to give you a run through of all the kind of just quick, easy, understandable aspects of our eligibility. So it'll just tell you kind of.
the about age verification. It'll tell you about the medical appointment verification, our lead time for submitting applications, financial guidelines. And so it'll just kind of do a quick so that folks have a basic understanding. Then right after that, you can simply go back right above to click on the online application. Once you go through, once you look at the online application, you will see there's a front page, if you will.
The first nine questions of our online application actually also serve as a pre-screening tool. So we actually designed it very kind of integratively in this way to act as also the first part of the application and as a pre-screening tool. So it only takes about two to three minutes to complete the first nine questions.
And I would say, and this is an approximation, but with about 90 to 90, yeah, ballpark, ballpark. I mean, because I'm not giving you like hard facts and figures here, but this is based on kind of my own inferences speaking with people. I would say with roughly 90, 95 % certainty, once you respond, once any applicant responds to the first nine questions and receives, they get to the end of it, it will give them a
Host (15:04.6)
Just the ballpark, right? Yeah.
Sure, sure.
Dana Jarvis
very strong understanding of whether or not they are preliminarily eligible for our services. And actually we'll explicitly say at the end of the page, congratulations, you are preliminarily eligible for Miracle Flight Services. And then we'll also say, here are the documents that you need to gather together for the completion of the application. And then you will...
then move forward as long as you've kind of reached that threshold to proceed with the remainder of the application. And that is by design in hopes that for anyone that is eligible, they'll be able to just continue right down the road of applying. And for those that may, for whatever reason at this particular moment, not be eligible, they'll also kind of understand that, who knows, maybe for at this particular moment, they're,
a bit over the income limits or they have some other issue at hand that needs to be addressed related to our eligibility that then they could become eligible. I also just want to point out on this note without hopefully going on too long, we actually also just recently built in a couple of exception areas on our online application just within the last year or so.
Host
No, that's okay.
Dana Jarvis
related to our timeframes for submitting applications, related to our financial criteria. So for folks that may have had very recent financial changes, we can now address that. And for those who may have quite a bit more recent or urgent kind of circumstances come up related to having an appointment being scheduled at the last minute or a doctor informing them that they have an appointment available.
Host
Mm-hmm.
Dana Jarvis
We have some space for that as well. And so for everyone, it'll be a lot simpler to understand it by just kind of looking at those first few questions on the application and walking through them.
Host
Sure. Yeah, I think you mentioned a couple interesting points. You know if somebody used to make a certain amount of money and there was I think what you're hinting at is you know, sudden job loss or business closure or something and they used to be able to afford it. So if you looked at their taxes, it was it would be kind of like what are you talking about? But now things change and we can't afford a number of flights. So I think that's also because a lot of people are intimidated by that.
or and sometimes even embarrassed because it doesn't line up with the documentation. So I think that's incredibly compassionate that you've taken that into consideration as well. The high level that I'm hearing from you though is if you have a child who needs medical attention, you go to miracle flights.org you click on apply for a flight or what's the button called request, request the flight.
Dana Jarvis
Yes, thank you. Yeah, miraclefloats.org, upper right hand corner of the website homepage. It will say request a flight. You can't miss it. It's just a little blue tab.
Host
All
Request a flight. So you go to Miracle, right. So you go to MiracleFlights.org, you click on Request a Flight, and within two minutes answering nine simple questions, you'll know with a fair degree of certainty if you're preliminary, preliminarily qualified so that you don't have to waste time trying to get someone on the phone and go over all these qualifications or submitting.
documentation just to wait and see and bite your nails, you'll actually have a pretty good understanding within a few minutes. That's kind of unheard of in a space like this.
Dana Jarvis
Totally. Mm-hmm. Yep. I mean, and I have to say this, it was actually not… It's funny that you used that word. We didn't discuss this beforehand, but that you actually put it that way because that is exactly what it is. Between myself and actually our VP of Operations in taking kind of my background and seeing all of
all of the frustrations kind of cumulatively for my years in the nonprofit and government space and then taking his very, he had very high level kind of understanding of the tech side of things. We were able to kind of cultivate and design and then also re-divise a lot of our policy around how can we make it so that this application process is as
as transparent, as simple, as straightforward as possible for folks that are already going through a challenging time that we are not adding to their burden of making it more challenging. How can we at least let them know the answer? Because if nothing else, especially, and I'll just be honest with you, if the answer is no, people would rather know quickly, at least in my experience.
Host
yeah, absolutely. I can move on and figure that what's plan B, right?
Dana Jarvis
Yes, and absolutely. that's something, and that's something too. there are also times occasionally where if the answer is no, that we may have some of our sister organizations that we work with that may actually be able to still assist. But that's kind of get there as opposed to people staying in this kind of waiting game of we're not quite sure, it's going to take a while.
And it actually works so well for our flight specialists who actually work directly with families. And one other thing I'd just like to mention to all the advocates and anyone watching is we have actual human beings. This isn't all just running through like a computer system or an algorithm. Ultimately applications once they're submitted are gonna go to our flight specialists who will actually
At one point, pick up the phone, they will speak with you, they actually talk with families once they're approved to find out what their pref, you know, if there's some options on flight days or flight times, if there's sometimes multiple things. So it's not a completely separate and devoid of humanity process. There's always going to be an individual or human being that can be spoken with.
But yes, that streamlining was really by design for many years of understanding the frustrations often in the nonprofit space.
Host
I have a bit of a tech background myself and that's what I loved when we spoke before the podcast was it wasn't to dehumanize the process. The tech was there to kind of provide hope and clarity so that the people who do need that assistance actually get connected faster to the human element of getting you on the flight. I mean, it's such a wonderful organization. You're trying to just help people, young children and older children.
Dana Jarvis
Yes.
Host
get the care they need and the one part of it that can usually be a big financial burden and logistical burden is something you just want to take off their plate and do it for as many people as you can as efficiently as you can. And so you're taking the time to build the tools. You're trying to make it as frictionless as possible. wish, I mean, listen, I remember when I had one of my kids apply to like a private school.
and we needed scholarship and that took like four months of back and forth. I'm just like, this is school. Like, why is this so difficult? So to see that somebody's doing it right is really a nice, it's a nice thing to see in the world.
Dana Jarvis
Thank you, thank you. Personally, I really do appreciate it. And it will be shared too, because it is not easy to make a process so smooth that actually is a lot of work, but I 100 % feel that it has been worth it. And from...
My interactions with both our healthcare provider partners who often refer to us, families, our Miracle Flights families that we talk to, and just individuals that we come across that have ever encountered the application, they're almost shocked at how, kind of just how much sense it makes. Because oftentimes that is really the stumbling block that folks have is that it,
at some point the process falls apart. Our goal is for it to not fall apart at any point. We want to be able to provide clarity and answers and help. Yeah.
Host
Yeah. Or there's some kind of hidden paperwork you have to find or something. You just made it super easy. So if I'm an advocate and I have clients and I work with pediatrics, or even if I have a client I'm working with on another issue and I find out that their child has an issue or whatever, is this something where you would recommend the advocate do it with them or it's, it's simple enough where it's like, just do the preliminary thing on your own. It takes two minutes. Let me know what the results are and we can help.
make that part of your treatment plan essentially.
Dana Jarvis
Sure, no, good question. I have found in most of my interactions when I'm dealing with professionals in the helping space, your social workers, your case managers, that the vast majority of applications that we get at Miracle Flights are directly from families themselves, whether it be just the preliminary portion, the full application.
Host
Mm-hmm.
Dana Jarvis
However, there are some circumstances that I do share this to with folks. If there is a need for a professional who need to submit either on behalf of or working with a family, we are completely open to that. And that's something that we generally, if nothing else, just need to make sure that we have.
We have some information on just so that we know if there, for example, if there's a communication barrier, so that say it's a, there's a language that we do not have staff members that speak, for example. We have an English Spanish translation for our application. But that's sometimes the reason why professionals get involved. If it's a sensitive.
situation or we're dealing with some occasionally folks with maybe some profound disabilities that may require assistance. Whatever the circumstances may be, we're totally open to professionals assisting families if they feel that it's necessary. That's totally acceptable and fine. However, just kind of going back to the great bulk of cases, for the most part, we generally have families say that they don't have any real barriers or issues.
because we've made the process so streamlined and fairly straightforward through the pre-streaming application. Yeah, yes, yeah. And actually, and I'll even mention one other thing when you're going through, we actually have for those beginning questions where there's a little bit of context that needs to be known. We actually have little hyperlinks built in. We have hovers so that if folks are wondering the answers to the question like,
Host
Right.
Yeah, it's something mom and dad can do.
Dana Jarvis
Well, I don't know, what does it mean? my child safe, medically stable to fly? What does that mean? And there's like a hover built in that'll explain exactly what we mean by that terminology, as opposed to what people might imagine in their mind, for example. So we've tried to take as much as we possibly can think of, as much of the guesswork out of it as we can.
Host
Mm-hmm.
Host
And just, mean, I think it's obvious, but these are commercial flights you're talking about, right? It's flight specialist is connecting you with.
Dana Jarvis
yes. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. generally always get that out from. Yes, they're all commercial flights that we that we do provide. Correct.
Host
Well, Dana, you are doing some amazing work. I can't thank you enough for sharing how it works, who it serves, how easy it is to apply. I think that's really kind of something that people don't realize. And again, it's miracleflights.org and you just click on request a flight to get started. Is there anything we haven't gone over that you're like, you should also know this or does that cover the basis?
Dana Jarvis
That really covers the really primary aspects of everything that you may need to know. I always just really encourage folks to take a look at that checklist portion that's right beneath the application right before you click on it, after you go into request a flight. I've found from talking to people that many people find that very helpful.
Host
So, thank
Dana Jarvis
We also have right beneath that a frequently asked questions section that it seems like sometimes folks find benefit from as well. So feel free to take a glance at that as well. And I believe, and I'm not sure John, if any of my contact information will be included as a portion of this podcast. Yes, but.
Host
Sure, it'll be in the show, no? Yeah. You can also just verbally, what's if you wanna share what's the easiest way to get in touch with your director?
Dana Jarvis
Sure, sure. Yeah. And for any of the advocates that may want to get in touch with me directly, my email address is D Jarvis. That's D J A R V like victory I S at Miracle Flights with an S at the end dot O R G. And you can just go ahead and email me. And if you have an organization that you work with, a team of professional advocates, or maybe even if you're with a system, a medical system,
And you have a team that would like an informational presentation to really get in beyond even what John and I got into today with all the nitty gritty details of kind of our application process, eligibility criteria. I'm always happy to provide that to really anybody that feels need for that.
Host
Well, thank you so much again and keep fighting the good fight and helping people. really do appreciate you coming on and sharing all the wonderful things you're doing.
Dana Jarvis
Thank you so much, John. I really appreciate your time and to all of you.
