Powered by the People of Maine
More than 16,000 donors have contributed over $41M to LifeFlight to purchase and maintain its fleet of flying ICUs.
by Kate O’Halloran
This article appeared in the October 2023 issue of Dispatches.
By any measure, six-year-old Sawyer Jacobs of Mount Vernon is an incredibly special young man.
While most six years olds were spending their summer in Maine swimming and eating s’mores, Sawyer, along with his twin sister, Addie, was busy hiking and paddling to raise both awareness and money for LifeFlight of Maine. The Jacobs family raised $2,124 and joined 18 other LifeFlight patients and family members, who joined forces as part of the inaugural Grateful Patient & Family Team in this summer’s Cross for LifeFlight.
That team was led both in spirit and in fundraising by former LifeFlight patient and current Foundation board member KC Ford and her husband, Matt Russ. Matt’s father, Joel Russ, turned out to be the most competitive of the bunch, running 125 miles and raising $8,535. KC lovingly joked that Joel must have been checking the Cross for LifeFlight website every hour on the hour, because she got a text from him within minutes when her fundraising surpassed his. Joel’s personal note on his fundraising page reads: “My participation in the Cross for LifeFlight is an outward way for my wife, Carolyn, and me to demonstrate our gratitude to LifeFlight for saving KC’s life.” As of mid-September, the Grateful Patient & Family Team raised more than $50,000 and crossed 1,325 miles.
We often say that although the reason and situation of every LifeFlight transport is different, there is one thing that every patient has in common: when they woke up that morning, they did not imagine that their life would soon depend on three total strangers in green flight suits.
Ensuring access to critical care across Maine is what unites the more than 16,000 donors who have supported LifeFlight since the Foundation was created in 2003.
Together, the people of Maine have contributed a staggering $41 million to support LifeFlight. Those gifts come from every county and community in the state, and each one represents something incredibly important. At its inception, LifeFlight made a promise to Maine to be there when needed. Each contribution LifeFlight receives represents the other side of that commitment — acknowledgement from the people of Maine that they understand and appreciate the vitally important and unique role that LifeFlight plays as a connector in the state’s increasingly fragile healthcare system.
LifeFlight was designed as a system to serve the people of Maine in the safest, most affordable, most reliable, and most professional way possible, and the Foundation was an integral part of the plan.
The path to long term sustainability for LifeFlight of Maine required operations to be self-sustaining based on reimbursement from transport — LifeFlight is an in-network provider with most major insurers in Maine — but continually maintaining the aircraft, enhancing the fleet, upgrading medical equipment, building necessary aviation infrastructure, and providing education to partners on the ground required significant capital expenditures. The Foundation was created to raise that capital and was intentionally designed so that donor dollars go directly toward those critical investments. Like LifeFlight of Maine, the Foundation has operated leanly for the past two decades, with strict attention paid to minimizing costs while raising the necessary funds.
Those funds come from all across Maine. The fact that Lifeflight is truly “of Maine” is perhaps most strikingly evidenced by the Foundation’s Community Giving Program. A request for support is made every fall to each municipality in the state. The request includes a suggested donation based on population: a $1.00 per capita rate for towns that have up to 1,000 residents; a $0.50 per capita rate for those with up to 2,000 residents; and a $0.25 per capita rate for all others, with asks typically capped at $2,000. Some communities give generously more than they are asked. Since 2006, 266 communities have contributed a total of $840,000.
We are reminded daily of both the critical role LifeFlight plays in Maine communities and the extraordinary generosity LifeFlight receives. Many gifts arrive with a handwritten note from a patient, or a family member, or a friend who shares a little bit about their connection to LifeFlight. The stories are often deeply personal, the gratitude or loss intensely raw. Each gift serves as a tangible sign that after 25 years, LifeFlight has truly become an indelible part of what makes Maine so special.
Thank you, Maine! We truly could not do this work without you.
Kate O’Halloran is the executive director of The LifeFlight Foundation.
