When HGA began in 2000, the network of volunteers completed about 300 “missions,” or patient transports; by comparison, in 2019 HGA ran 3,800 missions—a 50% increase from 2017, according to Derek King, a 10-year volunteer in the Spring and Klein community.
“We are a volunteer group being overwhelmed by the increased ride requests,” King said. “We seriously need added volunteers who can provide just one or two rides a month. The gratitude expressed by patients who often have to return for multiple treatments touches the hearts of all our volunteers.”
Ground Angel volunteers must be licensed drivers with insured vehicles and are required to complete a routine background check when signing up. Other volunteers in the same part of town will also provide mentorship for new volunteers.
Drivers can select missions that are convenient to their home or place of work, and each mission takes about two to three hours to complete.
“Driver volunteers give their time, vehicle and gas used to take the local journey out of the stress of traveling into Houston for their medical treatment,” King said. “There is no cost to the patient.”
In addition to larger airports such as George Bush Intercontinental Airport and William P. Hobby Airport, HGA also runs missions to and from the following local airports:
- Baytown Airport
- Cleveland Municipal Airport
- Conroe-North Houston Regional Airport
- David Wayne Hooks Memorial Airport
- Ellington Airport
- Houston Executive Airport
- Houston Southwest Airport
- La Porte Municipal Airport
- Pearland Regional Airport
- Sugar Land Regional Airport
- Texas Gulf Coast Regional Airport
- West Houston Airport
