Our non-emergency flight service is available to transport children under 18 and their families living in regional/rural Victoria and Tasmania, to and from Melbourne.
Flights4Kids provides their service to the Children’s Hospital as a dedicated flight service provider. Getting to know the hospital staff and families will enable us to maintain a close working relationship for a safer, more personalised and comfortable approach.
Why Flights4Kids?
Discovering a child has a serious, life-threatening illness is traumatic for any family, placing significant emotional, practical and financial pressure on the child, their family, extended family and carers. This is magnified for seriously ill children and families who live in regional/rural, often remote communities, where local life-saving medical treatment, equipment and expertise is limited or unavailable.
This leaves them no choice but to embark on a long trip to the city where lengthy stays away from home are common. The journey from rural areas to major city hospitals is often difficult, expensive and time-consuming. Many families don’t have the funds to travel by air, leaving no alternative but to travel by other forms of public transport or their own car.
For seriously ill children who require ongoing regular treatment, this kind of lengthy travel can cause unnecessary fatigue and stress, further compromising their treatment and overall health.
Initially this service will be available within the Royal Children’s Hospital and offered to their patients and families in need. In the future, we hope to provide this service to the broader community and the whole of Australia.
What we do?
Access to better quality care
for the regional and rural community, not just those in capital cities.
Eases financial burden
associated with long distance travel with free of charge flights and reduced absenteeism from work for parents.
Reduces travel fatigue
experienced by repeated travel by road, public transport or commercial flights.
Quick and frequent
Transports children and their families to and from their treatment quickly and more frequently, enabling children to be cared for by their family in a familiar environment which aids their wellbeing, comfort and recovery.
Urgent short notice service
Provides urgent, short-notice transport services for family members to support an ill child.
Protecting health
Protects the health of ill children by preventing exposure to the risk of infection associated with public transport and commercial flights.