The Province has provided funding to a volunteer-based medical transport service that takes patients from the East Kootenay to appointments in the Okanagan.
Angel Flight East Kootenay recently received $250,000 from the B.C. government in support of the organization's mandate in connecting patients to specialized medical staff and services in Kelowna.
Brent Bidston, founder of the organization, said the funding will go a long way to supporting Angel Flight's annual operations, given the hefty cost of some significant maintenance work that is just wrapping up on its larger Cessna 414A aircraft.
"This money, to keep us going through this year, is tremendously valuable and I'm extremely grateful for what we've got," Bidston said.
In an interview, Health Minister Josie Osborne said the province is committed to providing medical travel supports to people living in rural areas.
"In the East Kootenay, there's a particular set of geographical circumstances of being on the other side of the mountains, and being just that much farther away from centres, and it's a lot of travel that people face," Osborne said. "So I'm thrilled that we've been able to support Angel Flight East Kootenay and I really want to thank and recognize them for the work that they've done and the amount of volunteer hours that are spent and the way they've pulled together funding together to support people."
The issue of provincial funding support came up in the B.C. Legislature recently, as Columbia River - Revelstoke MLA Scott McInnis pressed the matter to Osborne during a Question Period session.
Shortly afterwards, the province's latest funding support for Angel Flight East Kootenay became public.
“This is what’s frustrating to me — without advocacy this might have been lost in the shuffle," said McInnis, in a press release. "This is another example of rural B.C. being forgotten by this NDP government."
Bidston noted he had sent a letter to the province a few months ago to have a conversation about further government support but hadn't heard back.
While the province has committed the latest round of funding for the year, longer-term funding agreements remain in limbo.
The new funding comes just as a previous agreement expired, which was part of a pilot project that included $150,000 in each of the last two years, according to Osborne.
"We've really seen the impact that it's making," said Osborne. "And I recognize that it is challenging without more certainty beyond that. With the kind of uncertainty that we're facing right now due to the impact of U.S. tariffs on the province, we're doing everything that we can to ensure that people have access to the programs and services they need and we're going to continue to work really closely with all of the organizations that we partner with and support, including Angel Flight East Kootenay."
Regardless of the province's fiscal and economic future, Bidston is hopeful conversations to accommodate longer term funding support will continue.
Demand for Angel Flight services continues to grow year over year since Bidston founded the organization in 2019. Last year was a record, flying 1,001 patients, a 35 per cent increase from the 654 patients flown in 2023.
"It's gone crazy," Bidston said. "Every year is a record year. We're getting more and more requests, our numbers go up every year."
Right now, the organization does three flights a week and, in some cases, are doing double rotations — flying to Kelowna and returning to the East Kootenay twice in one day — when there are excess requests from people who need transportation services.
Last year, Angel Flight did 15 double rotations, while the organization is already up to six in 2025.
Angel Flight has a number of volunteer pilots and two aircraft in operation — the Cessna 414A that is currently offline due to scheduled maintenance as well as a Cessna 821, which is the aircraft the organization used to use before purchasing the larger Cessna 414A.
Anyone who seeks to connect with Angel Flight East Kootenay services, regardless of their age, gender or medical situation, can do so by requesting a flight. For more information, visit www.angelflightek.ca.
