Gang, noted American sixgunner and missionary Jim Taylor and his wife, Twyla, live and work in Pemba, Mozambique. Twyla awoke two mornings ago with stroke symptoms that require most urgent treatment in South Africa. They are members of this outfit:

http://www.theairrescuecard.com/

which is giving them the runaround. Does anyone have advice or experience to share?
Many thanks, and blessings be upon you.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
Gang, noted American sixgunner and missionary Jim Taylor and his wife, Twyla, live and work in Pemba, Mozambique. Twyla awoke two mornings ago with stroke symptoms that require most urgent treatment in South Africa. They are members of this outfit:

http://www.theairrescuecard.com/

which is giving them the runaround. Does anyone have advice or experience to share?
Many thanks, and blessings be upon you.

My thoughts go out to them Bill. I looked at the pricing on their website and this company is much cheaper than Global Rescue. Unfortunately sometimes you get what you pay for.

I hope things work out.

Run around how?

Are they in SA? Trying to get to SA?

Trying to get back to the States?



The problem with most air evec is this (from their website)

"If required medical treatment for an acute or life-threatening illness or injury is unavailable by a local physician or facility, we will transport you to the closest facility for the treatment you need.


If you are hospitalized, our medical staff will assess the adequacy of the treating facility and work with the local attending physician to monitor your condition and determine the need for evacuation."


If they think the facilities are okay, you stay put and they will not evac you. Global Rescue and MedJet Assist specifically state (or did last I checked) they will evac you if you are safe to travel and have an accepting physician at your hospital of choice. No requirement of 'medical necessity".

Most should get you to the nearest appropriate facility.
As Duckear asked "run around how?"
The "run around" may likely be the facility they are in or near may be deemed by this company to fit the criteria for level of care for this symptom (stroke conditions)
Honestly it's impossible to say without more information
It would seem they may believe one of two things
1)based on the medical information they see or think they believe medical relocation (which is expensive) may not be clinically justified or
2) they may believe the care where they are is adequate based on what they see as the relative medical network in the area and the care levels of the local facilities
Simple advice is if they believe they need to be in South Africa to get appropriate care then that's what they need to do and should have already done....work out this later.....
Some say "nearest westernized medical facility" which would probably be in South Africa to your point/question

Happens all too often in this corner of the world.

There was another expat that died in Pemba a few weeks back as he couldn't get a blood transfusion/evacuated fast enough.

What is her status currently? I have some ideas if you want to PM me.

Here is the latest from Jim Taylor in Pemba, and it is good news:

The insurance called once again. They have set up an airvac via Netcare in Midrand, South Africa. They will take care from everything all the way from Pemba airport to admission in the hospital in Johannesburg. They will get back to me concerning the cost of admittance to the hospital.
The plane will most likely leave early morning in Johannesburg and arrive here about 3 hours later - so mid morning.

Looks like all the phone calls etc. did the trick. One of the Shootists who is a lawyer called them I know.

I sure hope it works out well.


.

So do I JTEX. Jim's a fine guy, pastor, writer and sixgunner, very close friend of John Taffin and Paco Kelly. Twyla has been teaching children who previously had almost no future how to type, use computers and get jobs. They do good work for Iris Ministries.

Thoughts and prayers. We all buy this insurance and hope we never need it and most of the time we don't. That's why it's so hard to know which company to pick and why so few know what advice to give if things don't go as advertised. Keep us posted, please.

Local CASEVAC services in Africa are markedly different. In Zim ACE is the go-to operator, and the only one with a dedicated critical care air ambulance. But, first and foremost, they are partnered with Global Rescue in the 'States, which has an excellent track record. (Boddington uses Global.) If I were in Moz, I would contact Global directly, and then maybe even have a chat with ACE in Zim about what facilities could be made available. Might not be any use right now, but for future reference...

Twyla Taylor passed away this morning.

So sorry to hear this. Thoughts and prayers to family & friends.

Best regards, D. Nelson