Medjet Rescues Hunter From Deep In Africa
Monday, November 9th, 2009 at 2:36 pmMedjet Rescues Hunter From Deep In Africa
Far Better Than Luck Trust Medjet.
MedjetAssist
Birmingham, Alabama —-(AmmoLand.com)- Imagine yourself on a dream safari, deep in the Bushveld and hundreds of miles from civilization. But instead of enjoying the expedition that took years to plan, you’ve taken ill and can’t even get out of bed.
Baking under the sweltering African sun, you’re disoriented, queasy and drifting in and out of consciousness, and despite the best efforts of a paramedic who happens to be sharing your camp, you’re not getting any better. A day’s travel from the nearest medical facility, your fellow campers begin to believe that you’ll be lucky to make it out of there alive.
But it’s not luck you need. You just need one phone call to MedjetAssist. For William Fisher of Eagle River, AK, that one call to Medjet in October may have been the difference between life and death.
The last thing 63-year-old Fisher expected from his Zambian Cape buffalo safari was to be the subject of an emergency remote evacuation. But instead of harvesting a trophy bull on his dream hunt, four days after arriving in the camp along the South Luangwa River, he found himself on a medical jet bound for Nairobi, Kenya.
A former Air Force pilot who flew in Vietnam and career special agent with the Immigration and Nationalization Service, Fisher was no stranger to high temperatures. But the four-and-a-half hour, 105-degree ride in the sun-drenched, open-top hunting vehicle into camp was the first blow to Fisher’s system, which was already weakened by a recent bout with a respiratory illness.
Despite successfully scouting hundreds of elephant, hippo, antelope and several fine specimens of Cape buffalo in the first two days, the scorching temperatures only increased as Fisher’s condition spiraled downward, confining him to his bed. It worsened to the point that his son and hunting partner Billy, a trained paramedic from Oregon, had expended all of his resources and began to fear for his father’s life. He grabbed the satellite phone and called MedjetAssist.
The elder Fisher was suspected of suffering heat stroke and severe dehydration. Medjet immediately went to work arranging a remote evacuation to get Fisher to a major medical facility for stabilization and treatment. Fisher was transported to Nairobi via a medically equipped Citation jet and was given five liters of fluid intravenously by the onboard doctor. At the hospital, he was treated for exacerbation of his chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heat stroke.
Normally, a medical evacuation like this would have cost Fisher nearly $20,000. Fortunately as a member of MedjetAssist, the nation’s leading emergency medical evacuation and repatriation membership program, Fisher and his family’s only out of pocket expense was their membership fee. Luckily on this trip they were in the capable hands of MedjetAssist.
“I’ve been around the world my whole life, but this trip was different,” said Fisher from his Alaska home. “Medjet saved my life, and I don’t know what I would have done without them.”
If a Medjet member is hospitalized more than 150 miles from home—virtually anywhere in the world, Medjet will arrange for medical transportation to the hospital of their choice at no additional cost.
Medjet is a pre-paid annual membership with no monetary limit to its benefits. Annual membership dues are $250 for an individual, $385 for a family, and short-term memberships start at $95. Annual domestic-only protection is also available for $175 for an individual and $305 for a family.
About MedjetAssist
Medjet was established in 1991 and is the premier medical evacuation and repatriation membership program for travelers. MedjetAssist has its corporate headquarters in Birmingham, AL, and was recently named the exclusive provider of worldwide air ambulance and medical repatriation services for AARP. For additional information, visit www.medjet.com.
