COEUR d'ALENE - A new kind of doctor has landed in North Idaho.

Dr. Allan Gathercoal, founder of the Flying Doctors of America, has moved to Coeur d'Alene to open the Inland Northwest chapter of the benevolent nonprofit medical organization, which provides a multitude of services to impoverished people living in remote locations.

"We like to go off the grid where there is no medical care," Gathercoal said.

Flying Doctors' mission is to "provide medical assistance and hope to as many of the poor and needy as we are able to reach. We fly medical and dental teams to wherever the need takes us." In 2014 alone, the organization helped people in Peru, Jordan, Israel, Bolivia and Madagascar.

"We see a lot of people," said Gathercoal, who recently returned from a three-week mission in Fort Dauphin, Madagascar, where he and medical teams served about 1,600 people.

Gathercoal and his wife, Liz, who serves as the South American coordinator, along with numerous physicians, dentists, nurses, chiropractors and other medical professionals and volunteers, take about 10 trips each year to better the lives of people who may otherwise be in desperate situations and living with painful conditions.

"What we call it is 'hope and healing,'" he said. "We try to bring hope and healing to these people. Some of these people are hopeless."

Gathercoal, who is also a pilot, began Flying Doctors in 1990 to provide first-rate medical care to those in need as well as invite medical and nonmedical volunteers on the adventure of a lifetime.

He began his medical career as an obstetrician then experienced a conversion to Christianity and worked as a minister. He said he felt constrained in that role and was not doing as much as he wanted.

"I wanted to see more walk and less talk," he said.

Flying Doctors comprises people of all walks of life who all share the same vision: to help others.

"If you don't give back in this world, if all you do is consume, you have lost your humanity," Gathercoal said. "That's why they go."

Gathercoal commented on the Ebola virus, which has besieged Africa and become a grave concern for medical professionals around the globe. He and other doctors are contemplating whether to fly to West Africa.

"It's probably the most serious thing in my lifetime working in this field," he said. "It's going to redefine how we work in Africa in the next few years, because Ebola's going to spread ... Madagascar right now is safe, but Ebola is a wildfire. It's a huge forest fire that is not going to stop."

However, Gathercoal compared being a Flying Doctor to being a soldier - you know the threat is there, but you can't let it stand in your way.

"I'm sure you feel like some of the people in the military do, but you have to suck it up and still do your job," he said. "It's like the policemen here in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane. They know there's some bad stuff out there but it doesn't stop them from doing their job. You do what you have to do."

Gathercoal, Liz and other Flying Doctors are heading to the island of Pohnpei-Chuuk, Micronesia, Jan. 24-Feb. 2. They will be bringing medical and dental care to four community clinics. This is the group's first mission to the Federated States of Micronesia.

"We hope that we imbue more than just medical care. We hope that there's a sense of affirming their humanity, that we're all together in this world," Gathercoal said. "We come away not only helping these people with health and dental care, but we also come away blessed ourselves.

"We touch our own humanity when we give. We care for other people but we don't out of the feeling of superiority - we care for people out of a feeling of it being a very small world."

Info: www.fdoamerica.org