Medivac on Grandeur

Sent by jtsongas

Cleared Viking Crown lounge.

Helicopter on its way, possibly appendix.

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In case anyone wants a little more info: http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2017/11/10/citizen_airmen_rescu.html

Wow!

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Sent by jtsongas

 

Cleared Viking Crown lounge.

Helicopter on its way, possibly appendix.

 

Sent from my SM-G900T using Forums mobile app

I learned something from your post. I always thought that I had 15, maybe 20 minutes to edit my posts. Yours was still editable at 27 minutes.

Even I learn something new on CC every now and then. ;)

Soooo...how much medivac coverage should I have on our travel medical insurance?

I learned something from your post. I always thought that I had 15, maybe 20 minutes to edit my posts. Yours was still editable at 27 minutes.

 

Even I learn something new on CC every now and then. ;)

Good observation :)

Going a bit off-topic by following up on that, but regardless of whether the "edit window" we have is 15, 20, or some other number of minutes...I wonder if you can start the editing within that window (i.e. the edit button is still available to you), and you can still commit the edit by saving your changes after the edit window has passed (when the edit button would no longer be available if you had refreshed the web page).

Wow incredible story, taking over 3.5 hours to get to the ship!

I'm sure that had to be an expensive operation, I hope they had travel insurance and it is covered.

The US Coast Guard and US military do not charge for their services. I asked "Insure My Trip" on their Q&A page about WHO levies these charges for medivacs? And their answer was vague. I still keep thinking that it is the cruise line that charges for their cruise interruption or fuel to divert.

Well you don’t always get medivac’ed by the coastguard or the military. If your insurance company decides to have you evacuated back to the US for care, it’s extremely expensive. Or you may need to be evacuated by another country’s coastguard.

The US Coast Guard and US military do not charge for their services. I asked "Insure My Trip" on their Q&A page about WHO levies these charges for medivacs? And their answer was vague. I still keep thinking that it is the cruise line that charges for their cruise interruption or fuel to divert.

That's good to know. I never knew that, thanks for sharing!

In case anyone wants a little more info: http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/news/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2017/11/10/citizen_airmen_rescu.html

The US Coast Guard and US military do not charge for their services. I asked "Insure My Trip" on their Q&A page about WHO levies these charges for medivacs? And their answer was vague. I still keep thinking that it is the cruise line that charges for their cruise interruption or fuel to divert.

Thanks for your posts. I was on the Grandeur during this rescue. Sure glad that this type of rescue is an option if a cruiser has a medical emergency. Also good to know that the US Coast Guard and US Air Force do not charge the patient for these services.

We already paid for USAF/USCG evac, with your Federal taxes.

But any commercial medevac will be EXPENSIVE.

My Mother had to be medevaced from Halifax, Nova Scotia to Washington, DC (769 miles straight line and actually off the Grandeur), and the price quoted was $29,000. Luckily, they accepted the RCI insurance payment of $25,000.

Thank you SRF. I did not know that there were commercial services that provide medivac. The $25,000 cost figure always comes up....I kept wondering where this charge was being assessed. That would explain it. I have never had personal experience with a medical evacuation, but it is something that has occurred on quite a few cruises.

This past September 6th ( 7:30 PM ), my husband suffered a heart attack, 2 days out of Halifax while returning from our TA, I was told by the Dr that the Canadian Coast Guard felt it was # 1 to far to come pick him up and # 2 not safe so our Capt brought him directly into Newfoundland ( Sept 7th 4 PM ) where he was then transferred to an awaiting ambulance and hosp. The big cost to me, was the medical charges while on board from Tuesday night until we were transferred . $12,032.53. Our medical Insurance will be sending me a check to cover this yet I had no upfront cost. The same insurance, brought him back to California from St Johns at $0 cost to me.

Gay

The US Coast Guard and US military do not charge for their services.

True story. I helped coordinate this rescue operation. (Correction to the news article: there were 2x HC-130s launched - one as backup so the helos aren't stranded without fuel over water.) Federal missions of this nature are at no cost to the patient; however, we will not assign a mission number or provide support if commercial assets are available to support the operation. Due to the location of this objective, the military assets were the closest and most capable. If the objective had been on land in a foreign country, there are commercial means to transport that individual to medical care - and ability to pay does not matter in this case (eg, we won't send a military asset if the objective can't afford commercial transportation). Even as a rescue professional, I always purchase trip insurance these days. Better safe than sorry. :)

This past September 6th ( 7:30 PM ), my husband suffered a heart attack, 2 days out of Halifax while returning from our TA, I was told by the Dr that the Canadian Coast Guard felt it was # 1 to far to come pick him up and # 2 not safe so our Capt brought him directly into Newfoundland ( Sept 7th 4 PM ) where he was then transferred to an awaiting ambulance and hosp. The big cost to me, was the medical charges while on board from Tuesday night until we were transferred . $12,032.53. Our medical Insurance will be sending me a check to cover this yet I had no upfront cost. The same insurance, brought him back to California from St Johns at $0 cost to me.

 

Gay

That had to be a scary time for you both. Hope your husband is feeling better.

Wow quite a story ;p

there were a couple of articles in Florida Today about this case and they raised my neck hairs ... FT said the Coast Guard was not involved in the case in the first mention. Later they mentioned Coast Guard involvement incidentally .... so if you care I'll try to explain .... else skip this post!

GRANDEUR had a medical situation where they thought they required outside assistance. In this situation they contact the Rescue Coordination Center covering the area. In this case the RCC is the Coast Guard.

When a medical case which might involve an evacuation comes up the RCC brings in a CG Flight surgeon ... btw CG Flight Surgeons are actually from the US Public Health Service.

The flight surgeon talks with the Dr on the ship and makes a determination about the case. The ship does not simply call for a helo is what I'm trying to say.

If the FS determines a transfer to shore for immediate/better care is warranted they advise the RCC. Then the RCC looks for a way to accomplish the transfer .... how emergent the case is, and any extra factors come into play.

In this case the issue was 'immediate transfer' was warranted BUT the ship was outside of Coast Guard range.

It just so happens that Patrick AFB, near Cape Canaveral FL is home to an AF combat rescue until. There aren't that many of these and this one is a RESERVE unit. They are not tasked with routine maritime SAR. But this unit operates long range helos WITH inflight refuel capability AND the refuel tankers need for their mission. G was WAY off shore ... WAY beyond what CG helo can do on one tank of gas.

I KNOW from experience operating in this area (for CG) that CG will call this unit for help .... they are ALWAYS ready to help IF they have the resources available.

So the AF flew the mission and probably wrote it off to 'training opportunity'. They were brought in by a call from the Coast Guard RCC (the ship doesn't call the Air Force and say send us a helo) Had the AF not helped the ship would have had to divert to CG range. And the patient might have been a day or more away from hospital (btw NOTE here those who say a ship doctor can handle simple surgery .... like an appy)

An example of interservice cooperation ......

Happy Veterans Day ....

***************

tell me a company that will do a medivac off a cruise ship ......

A COMMERCIAL air service that will pick up from a cruise ship ... US, Caribbeain .....

Great services and coordination, grateful for all that do this work!

That had to be a scary time for you both. Hope your husband is feeling better.

Gay's husband passed away Phoenix. I was shocked and saddened when I heard.

True story. I helped coordinate this rescue operation. (Correction to the news article: there were 2x HC-130s launched - one as backup so the helos aren't stranded without fuel over water.) Federal missions of this nature are at no cost to the patient; however, we will not assign a mission number or provide support if commercial assets are available to support the operation. Due to the location of this objective, the military assets were the closest and most capable. If the objective had been on land in a foreign country, there are commercial means to transport that individual to medical care - and ability to pay does not matter in this case (eg, we won't send a military asset if the objective can't afford commercial transportation). Even as a rescue professional, I always purchase trip insurance these days. Better safe than sorry. :)

Thank you. That helps explain it. My co-worker is retired Coast Guard, and I kept wondering about the question of charges.

Thank you. That helps explain it. My co-worker is retired Coast Guard, and I kept wondering about the question of charges.

Any time. Always happy to help. :) I think a lot of people would be surprised at the amount of cruise ship (and tanker ship, and commercial fishing vessel and and and...) rescues that the Air Force carries out when the Coast Guard is unable due to the distance of the objective from shore. The prior poster is correct - the oceans (and navigable waterways in the US) are the Coast Guard's SRR. The Air Force RCC (where I work, and who is responsible for all federal inland search and rescue in the lower 48) will receive a request from the Coast Guard and support the mission as able. We do so many times a week with various mission types. Glad this one had a happy ending.

Thank you SRF. I did not know that there were commercial services that provide medivac. The $25,000 cost figure always comes up....I kept wondering where this charge was being assessed. That would explain it. I have never had personal experience with a medical evacuation, but it is something that has occurred on quite a few cruises.

Yes, a popular one is MedJet Assist. BUT....MedJet does not cover evacuation from a ship. It only kicks in if you are actually admitted to a hospital away from home....at that point you can notify MedJet and you get to tell them where you want to be treated.

Good observation :)

 

Going a bit off-topic by following up on that, but regardless of whether the "edit window" we have is 15, 20, or some other number of minutes...I wonder if you can start the editing within that window (i.e. the edit button is still available to you), and you can still commit the edit by saving your changes after the edit window has passed (when the edit button would no longer be available if you had refreshed the web page).

At the risk of taking this thread even further off topic, I would so no, you cannot. This based on the time I opened a comment to edit, the doorbell rang and by the time I signed for packages and got them inside and went back to finish, hit save and I had time out and could not submit my edits after all.

Thank you SRF. I did not know that there were commercial services that provide medivac. The $25,000 cost figure always comes up....I kept wondering where this charge was being assessed. That would explain it. I have never had personal experience with a medical evacuation, but it is something that has occurred on quite a few cruises.

$25,000 is what the RCI trip insurance covers.

When we did the insurance, we did 3rd party for us (late 50s) as it was cheaper and had better coverage ($1 million med evac). But for my parents (87) the 3rd party insurance was going to be more than the cruise fare. So we put them on RCI insurance.

Med Evac from the ship at sea, with typically be a government agency (USCG or USAF or USN, if possible).

Once on land, med evac back to home or to a specialty hospital will be by commercial service.

MedJet offers just med evac coverage.