Laura Epstein
Using aircraft to ‘do good’
“I’m the CEO and founder of Pulse Charter Connect. We are on a mission to save lives through transporting organs and surgical teams for transplant,” says Epstein.
“I was working with a private charter company and Part 135 operator in Wisconsin that was transporting organs and surgical teams,” she says. “That’s where I saw the aviation purpose—using private jets for social good.”
She’s a 120-hour-plus private pilot who grew up around aviation because of her airplane-loving father. He was not a pilot, but his career kept him flying all over the world. A customs broker, he facilitated transporting precious art.
“His stories were so cool—he moved the Terracotta Warriors, Guernica by Picasso, the Declaration of Independence across the U.S.—just hearing how meaningful and priceless all these articles were that he was able to play a hand in empowering people to come see them,” she said. “I joke with him now because I think that really planted the seed for me to want to transport organs. He was doing precious art; I changed it to precious organs and help save lives.”
Epstein founded Pulse Charter Connect to address what she believes is one of the biggest factors affecting positive outcomes, the communication between air charters and hospitals. As an undergraduate, she studied aerospace engineering and earned her private pilot certificate while in college. Working at the FAA, she learned logistics and communications skills that would propel her to start her company.
“My project at the FAA at the time was automating clearances for ground control to the aircraft to be loadable into the FMS. I think that really percolated how can we add efficiencies instead of changing things from voice calls to more digital?”
She found that there was a lot of time and resources expended to coordinate the transportation of organs and surgical teams. “I saw how inefficient it was for them and how much work they were doing on the logistics. I have no clinical background, I can’t join the OR, I have no advice to give. But I can save them time and energy, help them maintain focus, get the logistics taken care of.”
Pulse Charter Connect has transported more than 65 organs and has 95 aircraft available in the platform.
“I remember the very first mission. It was out of Michigan, and we went to Indianapolis for a heart. I wasn’t on the mission, but I was tracking it the entire time getting all the updates from the team. It was so amazing knowing that I played a small part in getting some man somewhere a new heart.” 
pulsecharterconnect.com
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