Aviation
Commercial /
Americas
Solidarity plane
Discover the Latam program that works for health in South America
Airbus A320
Latam
Divulgação/Airbus
Gabriela Ramos
4/29/2021
For 9 years, the Latam Airlines Group has had a program called Avião Solidário, which offers the company's structures and its aircraft to assist the health area in Latin America, transporting people who need medical treatment or health professionals, in addition to taking organs, tissues and stem cells and medical supplies and equipment. The project operates in six countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
As described in an article on the LATAM website, “this initiative is a pride for those who are part of LATAM, because in this way our company has maintained a strong commitment to its mission during these difficult times: to be an air bridge that eliminates barriers to distance and geography to meet the health needs of South America every day ”.
Airbus A320
Latam
Divulgação/Airbus
As described in the article by the head of sustainability, Francisca Arias, the project provides hope for families, patients and communities at each takeoff: “it may be because they are waiting for a second chance at life when receiving an organ or stem cells, because they are going to receive treatment to continue fighting an illness or because they need medical supplies, or a wheelchair. There are many scenarios in which Avião Solidário can contribute to positively transform people's health ”.
The program has four main actions: transportation of patients, free transportation of health professionals, transportation of organs, tissues and stem cells and transportation of cargo and equipment related to health.
Approximately 4,000 people were transported by the program in 2019, including patients and doctors who needed to return home or had health emergencies. "If a person living in Brazil needs to travel to the USA, or a patient from Colombia needs to take a national or international flight for treatment, they can do it for free," said Francisca. As for the transport of doctors, the objective is to facilitate access to islands and vulnerable areas, serving more isolated communities, or in places that face emergencies. The transport of organs for those in urgent need, on the other hand, happens through cargo planes, receiving organs, tissues and, mainly, stem cells from other countries. In the transportation of health equipment, the objective is to facilitate access to these supplies, especially in regions that face critical levels of stocks.
During the pandemic, more than 400 professionals and 300 vulnerable people were transported through the project, and Avião Solidário will also transport vaccines against COVID-19 throughout the year.
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Gabriela Ramos
Gabriela is the latest addition to the editorial team of our website, having provided us with her solid background in editing, publishing and photography, and her interest and training in aviation history and historiography. His good taste and common sense and great cleverness and sagacity in the selection of themes and materials greatly enriched our vocabulary and narrative style. Gabriela brought unusual predicates and came to stay, helping to point the way of success of our portal.
   
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