Travelling in Medical Style: The fascinating medical evacuation back to Vancouver

After three weeks of post-surgical rehab at Aek Udon International Hospital in northern Thailand (read what happened), Kim and I flew home from Thailand to Vancouver on March 1 and 2, with the help of the medical transport company Fox Flight Air Ambulance and their excellent nurse escorts. Kim did remarkably well, and got through the trip with almost no pain — far better than we dared hope. And it was a fascinating experience to:

• fly first class for the first time in our lives,
• watch our medical escorts deal with the maze of logistics and legalities of medical transport,
• and sail through airport lineups on the fast track. (The only thing you have to wait for as an injured passenger is de-planing. You get to be first for everything else — but you’re the last to get off the dang jet! It was peaceful, in a way, because the question “how much longer?” question was pre-answered: until the end.)

It was the medical transport service that was what really made the trip interesting. The basic problem of medical transport is that airlines don’t really want to take injured passengers. From the airline’s perspective, Kim was a legal disaster just waiting to happen. People like to sue airlines. Pilots have the legal right to refuse any passenger, and they do. We heard horror stories about this before we left.

It’s the job of the medical escort company to deal with all of that. Safety is job one, of course, but our nurses were also experts in cutting through red tape. For instance, we all made the decision together that we avoid the use of a stretcher, because Kim was doing so well, and because seeing a stretcher really makes an airline ask a lot more questions …

Stretcher at 2 o’clock, unleash the red tape!

We faced a (minor) crisis when ticket agents spotted Kim being wheeled into the Bangkok Airport on a stretcher. The ambulance attendant thought he was being helpful bringing her all the way in to meet us, but our nurse escort muttered with mild alarm, “I told him not to bring her in here yet! I didn’t want them to see her on a stretcher!”

Sure enough, a supervisor hustled out when he saw the stretcher, and our escort had to play it cool and offer reassurances, even getting Kim to demonstrate her ability to walk. In this case, the supervisor was easily reassured, but it all depends on the person you’re dealing with. Sometimes, apparently, the nurses really have to get clever or pull rank — if necessary, they can even phone up some pretty serious people to tell lowly supervisors to back off.

It was a bit nerve-wracking to watch at time, because time and safety were interconnected for us. But they got us through all the hurdles, and Kim turned out to be surprisingly capable.

First class, ooh la la

So Kim and her escort flew business class on Cathay Pacific Airways — highly recommended — and got utterly spoiled by amazing customer service and assorted luxuries. Some of that service extended to me, as I was a special guest in their section, permitted to visit my injured wife. During my drop-ins, I was offered things like hot towels and wine in an actual glass instead of a plastic cup. Ooh la la! Kim’s nurse even swapped seats with me for an hour, and I got to nap in his fully-reclining booth seat.

However, for 90% of the trans-Pacific flight, I was still stuck in economy class on a particularly crowded and baby-infested flight — as unpleasant as it usually is.

I did luck out a little though: two people were removed from the plane for security reasons at the last second (sucked to be them) … and they were in my row, so I suddenly got elbow room. A little elbow room makes a big difference on a 12-hour flight!

The price tag for this method of travel

Somewhere in the neighbourhood of $30,000.

So buy travel insurance! And if you’re ever stuck abroad due to illness or injury, you will probably need a medical transport service to get you home. And ask your insurer to work with Fox Flight Air Ambulance — they were truly amazing. Even if you’re stuck without insurance, still contact them — they have the skills to get you home as safely as possible, and maybe for $30,000 instead of $50,000!