Southwest Airline’s Medical Transportation Grant Program: Connecting Craig Patients and Families

Leslie Shoemaker’s time at Craig Hospital was extremely challenging. Not only was she navigating the life-changing effects of multiple strokes, but her family was 700 miles away in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

“It was a very difficult time,” explains Shawn Shoemaker, Leslie’s husband. “My teenage kids and family members were back in Tulsa—as was my job. But we all wanted to see Leslie and be close by to support her during her rehab at Craig.”

Thanks to the Southwest Airlines Medical Transportation Grant Program (MTGP), the Shoemakers were able to do just that.

“Driving from Tulsa to Denver is about a 10-hour drive, but a plane ride is only 90 minutes,” Shawn says. “Without Southwest’s generosity, I would never have been able to fly to Craig to see Leslie. My 14- and 16-year-old kids wouldn’t have been able to see their mom, and my own mother would not have been able to fly to Craig to learn caregiving skills for Leslie.”

He adds, “Those four months in Denver were tough on all of us. We were basically living two lives—one at home in Oklahoma and one in Colorado. But the Southwest tickets made a huge difference in an already stressful situation. They enabled our family to visit Leslie, while also allowing me to keep my job and care for my kids.”

Like the Shoemakers, many patients travel to Craig from across the country, seeking the best neurorehabilitative services available for spinal cord and brain injuries. The travel donated through the Southwest Airlines Medical Transportation Grant Program not only makes it affordable for many of these patients to return home after completing their rehabilitation but also enables family members and friends to spend time at Craig to support their loved ones and receive caregiver training.  Simply put, the program eases the family burden during an extremely difficult time in their lives.

Since the program’s inception in 2007, more than $42.6 million in free transportation has been distributed to 117 nonprofit hospitals and medical organizations in 28 states. In fact, in 2022 alone, Southwest donated more than $4 million in free transportation to 76 hospitals and organizations nationwide.

“As the airline with heart, we have a passion for making a meaningful difference in the communities we serve,” said Laura Nieto, director of community outreach at Southwest Airlines. “Through our Medical Transportation Grant Program, our hope is to ease the financial burden of air travel expenses and provide a critical lifeline for patients and caregivers, allowing them to stay focused on medical treatment and recovery.”

For Craig Hospital, the overall goal is to empower individuals to regain independence, life quality and health outcomes in the face of a severe spinal cord or brain injury. These catastrophic injuries are incredibly expensive, with the astronomical costs stemming from large-scale needs, such as long-term medical care and home modifications, as well as more minor needs that add up, such as medications and transportation to appointments.

Compounding the problem is that these types of injuries often lead to unforeseeable income loss for both patients and caregivers. As expenses mount, families become financially overwhelmed, while also struggling to adjust to devastating changes to the life they knew.

To address this critical issue, the Craig Hospital Foundation developed a donor-funded patient assistance program that helps financially strapped families manage emergencies, access essential tools for independence, and overcome obstacles created by their family member’s injuries.

Through the Medical Transportation Grant Program, Southwest Airlines has long been a vital partner in Craig’s efforts to remove financial barriers for patients and caregivers—particularly those who travel to Craig from outside of Colorado. The airline provides complimentary tickets to lessen the financial burden on patients and their families requiring travel for specialized lifesaving or life-changing medical care.

“I am extremely grateful to Southwest for donating flights to my family,” Shawn says. “I really don’t know how we would have managed Leslie’s four months at Craig without the help. It was a true lifesaver.”