WINGED SAVIORS:
When Illness Strikes Travelers, SkyMed Airlifts Clients Home

LAKELAND
It was the fifth winter Ross and Donna Daw had driven their fifth-wheel recreational vehicle from their Ontario hometown of Hamilton to Florida. While at Lakeland RV Resort in March, Donna Daw, 68, had flulike symptoms and bowel troubles that grew worse each day.

She and her husband consulted a Watson Clinic physician, who suspected a bacterial bowel infection and urged hospitalization at Lakeland Regional Medical Center.

It turned out worse. Doctors stabilized and diagnosed her with ischemia, a condition in which the arteries to her bowel tissues were obstructed. They placed stints to widen her arteries. That night, she went into septic shock.

"She was in their intensive care unit, and she was very sick," Ross Daw said.

Donna Daw spent 10 days in intensive care, until her Canadian health insurance provider, Travel Insurance Coordinator, said she had to return to Canada to receive further medical treatment.

Donna Daw's emergency came just a year after the couple became members of SkyMed International Inc., an emergency medical air evacuation service.

Bill Davis, SkyMed's Florida vice president for marketing, had given a presentation to RVers at Lakeland RV Resort and the Daws decided to buy a fiveyear plan.

"I thought it was something I could have to carry in my back pocket, so to speak," Ross Daw said. "I liked what Bill had to say, and I just felt it was something that would be worthwhile having. We're not sorry that we did."

Their common-sense hunch proved a worthwhile investment. SkyMed flew their daughter Connie McKay from Winnipeg to Lakeland, arranged for Donna Daw's admission into McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, and then flew Donna Daw and her daughter back to the hospital in Hamilton.

Ross Daw chose to drive the RV back home, but SkyMed paid for all his fuel, even though he didn't have all his receipts.

"I had some and quite a few I didn't have," Ross Daw said. "They told me to estimate it, which I did as honestly as I could, and they paid for all of it. I have to speak very highly of them, because they did well for me."

Though SkyMed has a diverse, international customer base, the Daws are SkyMed's archetype Florida clients -- retired people who live or travel in RVs.

Between 60 percent and 75 percent of SkyMed clients are RVers and 90 percent are winter residents, said Davis, the vice president of marketing.

"Most of our clients still have a place they consider home, where they're taken care of in case of injury, where their insurance coverage is centered, where doctors are based, and where the family is still living," he said.

"If something happens to them in Florida, they want to go back to wherever they're based."

Founded in 1989, Scottsdale, Ariz.-based SkyMed provides emergency air medical transportation from anywhere in North America -- as far north as Point Barrow in Alaska and as far south as Barbados, Davis said. SkyMed's service is available within two hours of any hospitalization and patient stabilization on the continent, he said.

SkyMed's service can be considered a form of emergency travel insurance, Davis said. The Florida Department of Insurance regulates the company and licenses all its sales representatives.

Unlike typical insurance, however, SkyMed membership requires no co-payments, deductibles, claim forms and has no limits on emergency airlift expenses.

SkyMed's five-year membership cost the Daws $1,100 at the time (about $1,700 in Canadian dollars, Ross Daw estimated). Currently, SkyMed family membership is $1,200 for a five-year plan, $300 for a one-year plan. Individual membership is $600 for a five-year plan, $168 for one year.

The basic axiom of supply and demand led to the company's founding. Its original partners saw a need for emergency medical airlifting in the RV- and winter-resident markets.

"There's a whole range of insurances that don't cover what we cover," Davis said. "If you don't have SkyMed, you'll be looking at an enormous cost of medical transport back home. If you do have SkyMed, it would be paid for entirely."

Their Florida office is in Lakeland, largely because Davis is a Detroit Tigers fan. When SkyMed hired him in 1997, the company was operating out of Indian Rocks Beach.

Davis was living in Lakeland to watch the Tigers at spring training, and two years later, he was able to move the Florida office to his new hometown. There are two full-time employees in Florida -- Davis and Judy Radell, the administrative manager.

In addition to Davis and Radell, the company has 10 to 13 Florida sales representatives out in the field selling SkyMed memberships, earning commissions. Most are RVers themselves, Davis said. They have a sales edge because they are immersed in the community.

"It's a wonderful employment opportunity for people who want a little income as they enjoy the RV lifestyle," he said.

SkyMed's primary benefit is to save clients money should an emergency strike. About 50 percent of SkyMed members do it for financial reasons, Davis said.

Many health maintenance organizations or preferred provider organizations restrict their clients to hospitals or doctors within a certain network or area. Davis estimates half of Florida winter residents have regional limitations on their health insurance.

Hospital patients must be aware that once stabilized, they're not admitted yet and have the option of air evacuation, Davis said.

"They can be flown on a medically equipped, medically staffed flight back to where their HMO or PPO is based," Davis said. "If they're not flown back home as soon as they're stabilized, they could have an enormous hospital bill here in Florida."

Hospital care is especially expensive for vacationing Canadians. Paying for hospital procedures without insurance is bad enough, but paying with the Canadian dollar's weaker value compounds the problem. The Canadian dollar typically has at least 30 percent less purchasing power than the American dollar.

Donna Daw's LRMC bill after just 10 days amounted to $160,000, or $250,000 in Canadian dollars, Ross Daw estimated, which was entirely paid for by their out-of-country insurance policy through Travel Insurance Coordinators.

SkyMed makes no medical judgments, Davis said.

"We pay for the decisions that other people make," he said.

About 5 percent of SkyMed clients need it for medical reasons, he said. Some hospitals might not have the necessary medical care for an injured traveler or vacationer.

For example, LRMC does not have a burn unit.

The remaining Florida client base, about 45 percent Davis estimated, buys SkyMed membership for comfort and convenience.

Though the Daws' out-of-country insurance covered the airlift back to Canada, "not all Canadian insurance provides for airlifts back home," said Radell, the Lakeland administrative manager.

"The Daws happened to have a plan that did. It's really important for Canadians to review their out-of-country policy."

Radell recalled an incident in which a Canadian insurance company paid for the emergency airlift of a vacationer in Fort Lauderdale, but the policy didn't cover flight expenses for his wife, who was suffering from dementia.

The Daws' insurance would not have paid for their daughter, Connie, to fly to Lakeland and accompany her mother on the medical flight back, Radell said.

Neither would their insurance have paid for Ross Daw's gas on the drive back up.

SkyMed's advantages lie in these secondary benefits.

Among the biggest perks is that SkyMed hires a professional driver to bring the RV back to a home residence after a medical emergency has occurred.

SkyMed also will pay for one traveling companion to accompany a patient in an air ambulance, and the return of any minor children or grandchildren.

In the case of death, the company pays for the return of a member's remains, the spouse's flight on a commercial plane and returns any stranded vehicles.

Six shareholders are partners in SkyMed, which has five offices internationally. A Brentwood, Tenn., businessman, Dick Carpenter, founded the company in 1989 and sold it to an investment group in 1993.

"The name was important, because it was a great name," said Will Klein, one of the partners who invested in SkyMed. "The concept was in place and business had been initiated."

Klein is currently the majority shareholder. He declined to reveal the company's revenue for competitive reasons.

It's not the only company providing emergency travel insurance, but SkyMed is the provider of preference for 20 different RV clubs, including the Escapees RV Club, the Federation of Manufactured Home Owners of Florida and the Association of Recreational Vehicle Park and Campgrounds Owners and Managers.

Ken Emert, who owns Lakeland RV Resort with his wife, Robbie, said he only allows Davis to give presentations at his park. "I've never heard anything but good things for SkyMed," Emert said.

Ross Daw said he hopes to make another RV trip back to Lakeland, but he can't find any Canadian company willing to provide out-of-country health insurance for him and his wife.

However, if the Daws do manage to line up a trip, they have the confidence they will be able to return to Hamilton in the event of a medical emergency.

"Travelers worry about where to go and what to do if they're critically injured," said Radell, the Lakeland administrative manager. "The peace of mind our members have gives them the freedom to travel."

Adrian Zawada can be reached at adrian.zawada@theledger.com or 863-802-7584.