BIRMINGHAM , Alabama ( CNN ) -- If Russell Jackson has his way , any child who needs medical care but lacks the transportation to get there will have a safe and reliable alternative . Russell Jackson started Kid One , which has ferried thousands of children to medical appointments . `` We found that there were 80,000-plus children in Alabama living in a home with no car , '' Jackson says . `` And in the rural areas , there are no cabs , there are no buses , there are no trains . ... Millions of children in our country every day have no access to medical care when they need to reach it . '' Jackson is so determined that in 1997 he gave up his career as an Alabama firefighter , moved in with friends and dug into his retirement account to start Kid One Transport , a nonprofit organization that provides rides for needy children in his home state . In 11 years , Kid One 's fleet of vans has ferried more than 16,000 kids to and from scheduled medical-related appointments all over Alabama . Watch Jackson describe the need for medical transportation in rural Alabama » . Jackson never anticipated he would leave the fire department to head up a nonprofit organization . After all , firefighting was the culmination of a lifelong dream . `` What little boy does n't want to be a firefighter ? '' Jackson says , laughing . But an emergency call to his department in March 1992 changed everything . Jackson was dispatched to help an unresponsive 2-year-old who had accidentally hanged himself in the family car while trying to retrieve a toy . `` We did everything that we could to try to revive that young child , '' he says . The 2-year-old died despite their efforts . `` I took it pretty tough , '' Jackson remembers . `` It 's not that I had not been exposed to tragedies before , but this one hit me differently . '' At the advice of a counselor , Jackson started volunteer work to help him process his grief . A friend suggested Jackson volunteer in the small rural town of Sayre , Alabama . Jackson was stunned by what he saw just 25 minutes from his home . `` When I drove into the community , it was a world of its own . It was a lot of homes that were deplorable . And that 's really the only way I can explain them , '' he says . Jackson says he was instantly ashamed by his own comfortable lifestyle . Watch Jackson describe the `` turning point '' that led to Kids One Transport » . `` All it took was the one visit , '' he recalls , `` and I knew I really wanted to come out and work with these folks , hand in hand , and do whatever I could to help make life a little bit easier for them . '' When social workers told him about the neighborhood children who had no way to travel to and from appointments for chemotherapy , physical therapy and even for regular checkups , Jackson started driving them there himself . Before long this one-man operation grew into a 13-van team covering 30 counties . Though Jackson recently stepped down from a daily role in the organization he founded , he says the best part of his work has been meeting the families and witnessing firsthand so many medical transformations . There were some who learned to speak , another who learned to walk , and others who recovered from life-threatening illnesses -- even when doctors were less than hopeful . Watch a child who relies on Kid One to get to medical appointments » . `` I saw so many lives changed , so many determined children and parents who wanted to beat the odds that were against them , '' Jackson says . He says he believes that getting them to the care they needed made the difference . `` We 're that missing part of the puzzle that is preventing so many people from reaching what we 'd consider as world-class medicine . ... To know that they beat it all because of a simple ride , '' he adds . `` That has definitely been worth every bit of founding Kid One Transport . ''
More than 80,000 children in Alabama reportedly live in homes without a car . Fireman Russell Jackson quit his job to start a nonprofit to help fill that gap . Kid One has ferried 16,000 children to and from medical-related appointments .