| BIRMINGHAM,
Ala. (April 25, 2005) –
A
New Orleans woman is recovering at home after Birmingham-based
Air Ambulance Card flew her to her hometown hospital for surgery
within hours of a skiing accident in Utah.
Air Ambulance
Card member Robin Benton severely injured her leg while on a ski
vacation in Park City, Utah. “It was the last day of our
trip, the last run down the mountain,” said Benton’s
husband, Bruce Crutcher. After learning that extensive surgery
would be required, the 52-year-old woman wanted to have the procedure
done in her hometown of New Orleans. “She had two or three
tibial fractures,” said Crutcher, “with such a delicate
surgery, we didn’t want to be put in a hospital with unknown
doctors.” Crutcher pulled his membership card from his wallet
and placed just a single call to Air Ambulance Card. Within an
hour the company had coordinated with doctors, and a jet from
their worldwide network of medical aircraft was on its way to
transport Benton. Within ten hours, she was seen by her orthopedic
surgeon at the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans.
Without the
membership, Crutcher would have paid more than $17,000 for the
same services. “They would have to pay membership fees for
59 years to equal that cost,” said Sam Jackson, president
of Air Ambulance Card. “They will never pay in their lifetime
as much as they received in value from their Air Ambulance Card
membership.”
For a yearly
membership fee, Air Ambulance Card members are transported by
fully equipped and staffed air ambulance if they are hospitalized
while traveling 150 miles or more from home. The Crutchers joined
the pre-paid air ambulance service last May, after a brother-in-law
was injured on a bike excursion in Italy. He paid the full fee,
nearly $80,000, for a medically equipped flight back to New Orleans.
“After that happened to him, we figured $295 was a much
better deal than the $80,000 he had to pay,” said Bruce
Crutcher.
Air Ambulance
Card provides travelers with hospital-to-hospital Prepaid Air
Ambulance Service domestically and abroad. The membership program
offers services for a period of one year to families or individuals,
and corporate accounts. Air Ambulance Card memberships are available
to residents of the U.S. and Canada and cost $195 per year for
individuals and $295 per year for families. For more information
visit www.AirAmbulanceCard.com. |
