Flying Doctors of America was founded by Allan M. Gathercoal in 1990. Currently it has more than 7000 volunteers in association. The organization brings together

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

dentist A dentist, also known as a dental surgeon, is a health care professional who specializes in dentistry (the diagnosis, prevention, management, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the mouth, oral cavity and other aspects of the craniofaci ...

s, physician assistants,

nurse practitioner A nurse practitioner (NP) is an advanced practice registered nurse and a type of mid-level practitioner. NPs are trained to assess patient needs, order and interpret diagnostic and laboratory tests, diagnose disease, formulate and prescribe m ...

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a nurse who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized licensing body to o ...

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

s, and other non-medical volunteers who give medical and dental care to people in

developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...

throughout the world. All of the missions are short-term (one or two weeks), professionally managed and affordable. Each team member makes a small donation to the organization which is used to cover the cost of transportation, lodging and mission expenses. Each year the schedule of missions is posted on the organization's website. The organization is a 501(c)(3)

charitable organization A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

registered as Medical Mercy Missions, Inc. with the IRS and in the

state of Georgia Georgia is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee and North Carolina; to the northeast by South Carolina; to the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean; to the south by Florida; and to the west by ...

, DBA: Flying Doctors of America. It is listed in the Encyclopedia of Associations, published by Thomson Gale. It is listed in Idealist - Directory of nonprofit web resources: 16000 organizations in 130 countries. In April 2020, pilot and urologist Dr. William Kirby, a volunteer of Flying Doctors America and former mayor of Auburn, California, died in a plane crash at 72. He was also chairman of the Tumor Board at

Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital Sutter may refer to: People * Sutter (surname), a list of people with this name * John Augustus Sutter, Sr. (1803–1880), Californian pioneer and founder of Sutter's Fort ** John Augustus Sutter, Jr. (1826–1897), his son, a U.S. Consul to Acapu ...

. Dr. William Kirby flew to rural parts of the world to give free medical services and free clinics.

Medical Mercy Missions

Medical Mercy Missions, Inc. is the mother organization of Flying Doctors of America. The organization is a

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

charitable organizations registered with the

IRS The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...

Search for Charities, Online Version of Publication 78
/ref> and in the state of Georgia.

References

External links

Official site
{{authority control Health charities in the United States Medical associations based in the United States Organizations established in 1990 Médecins Sans Frontières 1990 establishments in the United States Medical and health organizations based in Georgia (U.S. state)