MEDJET Assistance Brings Dentist Home from the Top of the World

HND --What do you do when you're in terrible pain and can't walk, you just traveled four hours on your back in the rear of a small plane (with four dogs) from the North Pole to Eureka, the northern-most outpost on Ellesmere Island, and you need to get home to your doctor? Simple. Call MEDJET Assistance.

"We've dispatched aircraft to remote corners of the world to pick up our members, but never before to the far northern arctic region," said MEDJET Assistance Executive Vice President Phillip Morris. "When the call came in, our operations department went into action. Ellesmere Island is about as far away from anyplace as you can get."

The story began ten days earlier when Dr. William Martin, co-leader of an 11-member expedition, set out by dogsled from Eureka to the top of the world. The incredible adventure was organized to raise funds for "Great Aspirations" a nonprofit association dedicated to giving parents ideas to help them inspire their kids.

With four dogsleds in tow, the team began the 200-mile trek over the permanently frozen tundra. The temperature never warmed beyond a bone-chilling 10 degrees below zero and dropped to minus 40 degrees at night. Six days into the journey, Martin was running alongside a sled when his foot fell through the snow into a hole and he twisted his muscles in his left leg.

The 50-year old dentist from Gainesville, Florida refused to turn back. With the help of some pain medication, he persevered, traveling 10 to 12 miles a day. Walls of broken chunks of ice littered the pathway. Just one day away from the North Pole, Martin could go no further. Excruciating pain met his every movement. His teammates wrapped him in a sleeping bag, then transported him by dogsled on the final leg of the journey.

That night the weary travelers reached the North Pole and celebrated their successful trek across the arctic frontier. The next morning, a Twin Otter plane ferrying a NASA research team and a news crew landed near their camp. Seven expedition members, four dogs, and Dr. Martin boarded the aircraft and returned to Eureka. The following day, the plane picked up the remaining members and dogs.

"I Will Never Give This Card Up"

Dr. Martin, a long-term member of MEDJET Assistance, thought he'd probably never use the service. When a call was placed to MEDJET Assistance for evacuation, he wasn't sure what to expect.

"The lady who took care of this was incredible," Martin explained a couple of weeks after the incident. "She said, "Don't worry about a thing."

MEDJET Assistance immediately assessed the situation, conferring with its medical and operations staff. In a matter of minutes, logistics were organized and a plan was set into motion.

"An arctic-capable plane was dispatched to ferry Dr. Martin from Eureka south to Rankin Inlet on the Hudson Bay, while one of our medically-equipped LearJets was sent north," said Morris. "Twelve hours later, Dr. Martin was back home, being attended by his personal physician."

MEDJET kept in contact with Martin's doctor and wife to keep them abreast of the situation. When Martin landed in Gainesville, the local hospital had been alerted and an ambulance was waiting on the runway. Doctors thought surgery might be necessary. MRIs were taken and compared to his earlier records, an advantage of flying home to be treated. In the end, Dr. Martin did not require surgery and is recuperating from the incident. Looking back at the adventure, Martin said, "I will never give this card up. The customer service is incredible."

Unlike travel insurance, MEDJET Assistance is prepaid air medical transportation. If a member becomes ill or is injured away from home, MEDJET Assistance provides medically supervised air transportation to the hospital of the member's choice.

MEDJET Assistance will fly members all the way home so they can be attended to by their family physician. Most health insurance plans, by comparison, only cover emergency ambulance transportation to the nearest hospital, which may provide marginal care.

Each MEDJET Assistance plane is equipped with a hospital intensive care unit. An onboard medical team provides high quality care to members as they are being flown home or to the hospital of their choice.

The annual MEDJET Assistance membership is only $150 a year for individuals and $225 for families. For more information, click here.

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