This year, more than 1.4 billion people will cross an international border and most of them will travel unprotected. They may think they’re covered if they lose a bag or if their flight is delayed, but we’re talking about real emergencies – a life threatening illness, accident, crime, political disturbance or natural disaster. It’s very easy, as we all know these days, to fly just about anywhere you want to go in the world. But when an emergency happens, then the question becomes: how, when, where and how fast you get out.

Press play to take a look inside the brave new world of evacuation and repatriation, with the team at Global Rescue.

 

Travelers may think they’re covered if the airline loses their bag or their flight is delayed, but I’m talking about real-life emergencies: a life-threatening illness, an accident, crime, political disturbance, natural disaster… or a global pandemic.  When an emergency happens, the real question is how, when, where and how fast you can get out.

 

This is where medical evacuation coverage comes in. Unlike typical travel insurance, this is a membership-based service—not an insurance policy. And it provides evacuation in case of an emergency.  Think of it more as a transport service that will get you to the hospital of your choice or to your home, no matter where in the world you may be.

 

There are a handful of companies that offer these memberships: Medjet Assist, Air Ambulance Card, SkyMed or Global Rescue to name a few.

 

In the past two years, more and more travelers are being evacuated, either because of political turmoil or civil disturbances in foreign countries, or because of the growing number of travelers opting for adventure itineraries who get into trouble. In 2018 and 2019, this was particularly the case in Nepal, where a booming interest in climbing Mount Everest resulted in a booming number of serious injuries and deaths in the Himalayas.

 

Enter the brave, new, but essential world, of traveler protection.

 

“We cover everything,” said CEO of Global Rescue, Dan Richards. “So whether it be a slip and fall in a hotel room, a motor vehicle accident, somebody eats something that doesn’t agree with them, all the way up to a natural disaster, an earthquake, avalanches in Nepal, terrorism, or civil unrest like the Arab Spring. We’ve been involved in and respond to all of those events.”

 

These are exactly the kinds of things that many people presume their travel insurance will cover. Many American travelers mistakenly assume that when the going gets rough, they should head for the U.S. Embassy.

 

“U.S. embassies are not a place of refuge for American travelers,” Richards said. “They do a phenomenal job for our citizens, but when you look at the countries that Americans travel to in any numbers, the embassies are just not set up to provide those sorts of services in the country.”

 

Unlike regular insurance– which is great for trip cancellations, theft or travel delays–evacuation memberships don’t reimburse you for out-of-pocket expenses. But they do serve a different purpose.

 

“Insurers are good at writing checks, right?” Richards said. “You pay them a premium and they cover your loss, but they are not set up to provide crisis management and response services. They can’t put boots on the ground at the site of crisis. Most of what we do every day is advisory in nature; perhaps provide a diagnosis over the telephone and make a recommendation with respect to what you should get for treatment. And then, make a referral to a local facility or a Center of Excellence, where we’ve got about 200 of those around the world we can refer people to.”

 

What about when you need more than just an advisory referral? Global Rescue is staffed by former navy seals, army rangers, and other special ops personnel—like Dan Stretch and Matt Napiltonia — who just may be among the first faces you see if you are in need of evacuation.

 

“If somebody needs to be rescued, the first thing they would do is call one of our operations centers by phone, satellite, email, [or] global rescue app,” Stretch said. “We assess the situation and then we work with our partners in different countries to rescue them from the point of injury, get them to a hospital in that country, and then stabilize them, and then move them back to their home hospital of choice.”

 

“I’ll say that most of the members, before they sign up, think that these rescues are as easy as ordering up an Uber or a pizza at Domino’s, but I can assure you that they are extremely, extremely complex,” Napiltonia said. “As a former navy seal, I would say they are as complex as any mission I’ve ever done as a seal.”

 

Some of the more complex missions take place every year during the Himalayan climbing season. Most people don’t even think about the risks they face from just being at high altitude.

 

“We have a lot of altitude sickness and other kinds of issues that our members experience, even when they’re not trying to summit Everest or other big mountains,” Richards said.

 

And it’s not just Everest and big mountain rescues.

 

“We have seen the adventure side of our business growing well into the double digits for the last five years,” Richards said. “They’re doing bungee jumping. They’re doing ziplining. They’re doing backcountry and extreme skiing, and climbing, and all kinds of things that again, 15 or 20 years ago, they might have been going to sit on a beach somewhere.”

 

One of the most dangerous things people do, is something they may do every day, and not even think about.

 

“Statistically, bicycling is a dangerous activity. It’s not up there with base-jumping or high-altitude mountaineering, but it is absolutely one of the more dangerous things you can do,” Richards said. “We have a fairly sizable group of clients that like to motorcycle across some pretty remote places, but you know, gravity, large objects moving at speed, those two things are dangerous, and we see the impact of what happens all the time at Global Rescue.”

 

Then there are acts of God, and things that are beyond individual control.

 

In March of 2011, a major earthquake triggered a 50 foot tsunami, which disabled the power and cooling mechanism at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan, resulting in the most severe nuclear accident since the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Over 100,000 people were evacuated from the area after the contamination.

 

“When we respond to these kinds of disaster zones, we’re there for our members,” Richards said. “We also try and do our part to assist in the humanitarian aspects of the response, and if somebody comes in and needs help, we’ll typically help them.”

 

Global Rescue has five operation centers around the world. They also have more than 5,000 aircraft under contract for many situations. With these resources, Global Rescue can more effectively respond to a crisis or emergency in almost anywhere in the world.

 

What should you be aware of before you plan a trip?

 

“Do your research before you go and understand the environment you’re entering,” Richards said.

“Rather than in your mind thinking, ‘That’s not going to happen to me’, you should think the other way, which is, ‘Something will happen to me. How do I prepare and mitigate whatever it is that’s going to happen?’”

 

The bottom line is whether you’re going on a cruise, family vacation, setting out on an extreme adventure—or even just a business trip, you might want to consider a medical evacuation policy.  It may not only save your vacation, it might also… save your life.