medical evacuation

[Alanna Shaikh]

Hi All,

As some of you may know, my son had to go on medical evacuation recently. It turned out well, and I am very grateful. As part of my gratitude work, I am documenting everything I learned, to help the next person. My first page is a general how-to on medical evacuation. Have any of you been medevaced? Can you read the sheet and comment on anything I got wrong?

Thanks so much!

Here's the link: http://www.alannashaikh.com/?page_id=14

[Margaret (Maggie) Janes-Lucas]

Hi Alanna, so sorry to hear but so glad to know things are Ok. I haven't been medevaced, but will def read your entry as is important to always prepare for. Wishing you and your family all the best! ox

[Breanna R]

I have been medevaced once (for something very minor thank goodness) and have organized a few in my time - this seems like a great list. Totally agree with your emphasis on calling, calling and calling.  To that extent I'd add trying to get direct phone numbers for the main people you are dealing with, because it can be so annoying to go through the switchboard every time.  My company organized and paid for all the flights, but I had to pay for the cost of the treatment / meds up front (which got reimbursed), and the hotel as well (which didn't).

Another thing is that if your nearest medevac point is not your home country, it's good to check the visa requirements. I was evaced to Australia and needed a medical visa to enter, and it has all kinds of requirements that I wasn't familiar with.

The other thing I'd recommend for ALL expats is having at least one person who has all your personal medical information. This might be a colleague or a friend (or several). I once helped organise a medieval for a colleague with kidney stones, and it would have been so helpful if I had had a document to refer to with critical things like blood type, allergies, medical history, insurance numbers & phone numbers, and emergency contact person.

So glad things worked out with your son - I can't imagine how scary that must have been.  (hug)

[Andrea Dekrout]

Hello!

sorry to hear your son had a medevac ! it is scary my husband had to be evacuated once too.

Great list – from my experience with my husband I would add:

-          Immediately after contacting the clinic, contact your insurer, pre-approval for anything can take ages.

-          Where possible, if you are the one that is sick, let someone else deal with the evacuation insurance, I did it for my husband and so was able to calmly but firmly get across the urgency of this situation and the on-the-ground reality, we were out on the same day.  A friend of ours did it for himself (we were not in country at the time) and because he was feeling bad didn’t have the energy to keep pressing and did not get evacuated until several days after a bad accident.

-          If flights or transport are being arranged directly by the insurer make sure to ask about every part of the travel, they may (like ours did) assume you are near an international airport and not account for any internal travel.

Very glad your son is ok! AD