Monday, June 11, 2012

Home from the Dominican Republic

Dear Ms. Skroder,

I write to thank you for the textbook service—and more—last week, August 25, 2011.

My co-insured and I had been trying to get our insurance company to respond for six days affirmatively with some help—any help at all—to get us medically evacuated from the Dominican Republic.

Instead, our insurance “service” offered us a veritable rain of “reasons” why medical evacuation, though warranted, was out of reach. We tried for six days to get some help in getting us to a doctor, to get our help with ambulances, and to secure the promised medical evacuation aircraft described in our policy.

In the case of Trinity, working with our insurance, from the moment we reached out to the time we were airborne on route to the United State, just six hours had passed.

The ambulance that we were told would not come for us unless it was cleared through the hotel, arrived at the window of our hotel in four hours. As we were getting into our ambulance, the insurance company called and said no ambulance plane services would leave the US or return because of the weather.

Trinity arranged a clearance through the Hospital for Special Surgery and into the Hospital for Special Surgery something that we were told by our insurance company could not be arranged. The flight was seamless and perfect, though it required ad hoc fixes at every step.

I am a retired United States Foreign Service Officer and have secured or arranged many medical evacuations. I have never seen a better run operation that that offered us by Trinity. Nor have I seen a more competent, caring, and effective crew, especially, in our in flight medical techs, both named Mark. The in flight techs made everything work; for instance, they jury-rigged a coat rack on the Florida tarmac to serve as a gurney so I could get to the men’s room. They got what was the only ambulance service on the island to get to the hotel that, we were told, could not be entered unless the medical director—a woman who had left—had cleared the operation.

In flight, the tech made certain I was kept “ahead of the pain” with adequate and appropriate intramuscular morphine. My vital signs were monitored not-intrusively and meticulously every half hour. I looked at my watch each time. The timing was exact. The care and concern was exceptional.

Trinity somehow got me admitted directly to the Hospital for Special Surgery(I was told it was impossible) and made sure our room would be “private” so that Judge Barnes, my partner and help-mate could stay with me after I was admitted.

I have worked nearly 50 years with military professionals, first in the State Department and then with mid-career officers destined for promotion in every service. None impressed me more than the crew[s] Trinity called on to get me to safety last week.

It is not five days later and it is certain that I will recover. Had I waited for my fully paid insurance company to honor their obligations, I think the outcome would have been problematic.

Thank you is a little light.

Cordially,

J. A. Nathan PhD
Professor