FAYETTEVILLE — He bleeds red and flies a plane of Carolina blue.
Dr. Dickson Schaefer’s heart is pure gold.
He flew the Cessna 182 he says needs a paint job out of Fayetteville Regional Airport on Saturday afternoon. His was a mission for Angel Flight Soars and Cape Fear Valley Health, the parent company of Bladen County Hospital.
On board with him were his co-pilot, flying friend Tom Pruitt, and coronavirus test samples from throughout the health system’s facilities. They were bound for a lab in Nashville, Tennessee. Schaefer and Pruitt took them to Asheville, where pilot Michael Spurgeon met them and made the final leg of the journey.
Rather than needing three or four days to get test results, their volunteer efforts would enable results to be known a day later.
“The patients who have concerns if they have coronavirus would like to know,” Schaefer said of the importance.
Another benefit is the possibility of using less personal protective equipment by Cape Fear Valley staff.
“The supply chains have been an issue,” he said. “The faster we can get results back, and if you get a negative result, you can use less supplies. It’s helpful all the way around.”
Schaefer is a surgeon with Fayetteville Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine, Pruitt a real estate agent. Angel Flight Soars is a 37-year-old organization based in Atlanta that uses volunteers to fly patients needing life-changing medical treatments, like transplants or cancer treatments, or the pre- and post-op visits that come with them.
“The hospital administration has done a fantastic job managing all this,” Schaefer said of putting things together with Angel Flight.
Ben Cason, a volunteer with Angel Flight Soars for about 10 years who lives in Wake County, wasn’t surprised by Schaefer’s good will.
“Anytime something like this happens, you have more people sign up than missions,” Cason said.
He carries a cellphone loaded with photos, from toddlers and youngsters he’s flown to adults needing care from fires. Flying test samples, he said, is something of a different frontier but right in line with the organization’s mission.
Cape Fear Valley has facilities not only in Bladen and Cumberland counties, but also in Hoke. Bladen’s statistics — just one positive case of COVID-19 before Saturday — have been low.
“For what we were expecting, we’ve been very fortunate,” Schaefer said of the system as a whole.
He’s been a pilot about four years. Schaefer graduated with degrees in business management and economics in 1989 from N.C. State, where he was an athletics trainer, then was in the last class of Bowman Gray School of Medicine before the name changed in 1997 to the Wake Forest School of Medicine.
A normal week before COVID-19 was seeing about 120 patients, doing 20 surgeries, 10 to 12 joint replacements, and eight to 10 other surgeries for shoulders and trauma. Now he sees about 80 patients every two weeks and does about a handful of surgeries that are pretty much trauma only.
The past week included the death of his mother and her funeral on Wednesday. Saturday morning’s gray skies gave way to brilliant sunshine, and his heavy heart got a lift by soaring to help others.
Schaefer said a friend helped he and the health care system connect to Angel Flight Soars. The veteran organization, as it so often does, solved the issue of a headwind against Schaefer’s plane potentially making a long trip to Nashville followed by an uncomfortable ride back at night.
“It would be almost impossible for us to coordinate somebody to pick up in Asheville and go to Nashville,” Schaefer said. “So that’s what Angel Flight does. They typically fly patients for physician visits.”
On Sunday, Peter Andreini and Philip Plemmons of Fayetteville were scheduled to fly more samples for Cape Fear Valley Health to Nashville.
Schaefer described the gesture as a way to contribute, to offer what he can during a worldwide pandemic. It’s not unusual for him; he’s previously filled in overseas as a combat physician, enabling those there to get a break and return home for a bit.
“I get to use my hobby,” he said of flying, “and something I enjoy doing just for fun.”
On the ground or in the air, his is a heart always in the right place.
Molecular and serological specimens arrive at the Signature Flight Support terminal of Fayetteville Regional Airport on Saturday. They would be flown by Dr. Dickson Schaefer to Asheville, where pilot Michael Spurgeon would meet them and fly them on to a Nashville, Tenn., lab.
Jimmy Maher, corporate director of outreach at Cape Fear Valley Health, takes the COVID-19 samples to the plane of Dr. Dickson Schaefer.
Dr. Dickson Schaefer makes a few final checks in preparation for Saturday’s flight to Asheville.
Dr. Dickson Schaefer (rear) and his friend Tom Pruitt prepare to depart Saturday from Fayetteville with COVID-19 tests. The results will be known within 24 hours.
Dr. Dickson Schaefer (right), with his friend and co-pilot Tom Pruitt, said the mission with Angel Flight Soars enables him to help during a time of need in the coronavirus pandemic. He said he gets a chance to do so by combining his hobby and love for flying with assistance to others awaiting results of their virus tests.