Deb Martinelli, San Miguel, Mexico
Jack and I live full-time in San Miguel, Mexico after relocating here from Madison, Wisconsin three years ago. Recently I experienced problems with my right eye and my eye surgeon in Madison, Wisconsin was concerned about the possibility of a torn or detached retina. He had successfully operated on the same eye a year ago and recommended a thorough eye exam as soon as I could get to Madison and that surgery would follow within a couple of hours if necessary. I spent a few minutes searching for flights from Leon, Mexico to Madison, Wisconsin and had a hard time finding any less than four days out. I had never used my SkyMed service and called to see what they would do.
After a quick consult with Nan in Member Services I was delighted to know that SkyMed would fly me and my partner to Madison and back home when we were ready. Nan then transferred me to John, SkyMed’s Travel Agent, who was very adept at finding flights that I couldn’t. He found tickets for a flight two days out, but said he would keep watching for two seats to open up sooner and about an hour later he called and told me he found tickets for the very next day. We were flown to Madison by commercial jet in less than 24 hours from my initial call to them. Amazing! John also watched the weather for us as Hurricane Patricia was adding more drama to my situation as it was expected to hit Mexico on the same day we were set to travel. John gave me his personal number and assured me he would be ready to help if we experienced any flight difficulties or delays of any kind. Shortly after that I received a call from Corinne of SkyMed. She told me she was my personal advocate, gave me her cell number, and told me not to hesitate to call her if I had any problem with SkyMed’s services or any other difficulty with my trip. Corinne said she had direct access to SkyMed’s top management, should it be needed.
The combination of responsiveness, caring support and resourcefulness of SkyMed representatives brought immediate relief of the stress I was feeling and I knew I was in capable hands and would see my eye surgeon quickly. We arrived in Madison, Wisconsin Saturday night at 11:30 pm exactly as planned and the next morning at 7:00 am I was seen by my retinal surgeon. Luckily for me the news was positive. I did not need surgery. I took Sunday to decompress and on Monday I called SkyMed to give them the news. They told me they would book tickets back to our home when we were ready and to email a copy of the exam report to Nan after I returned home. While we were in Wisconsin we decided to visit family and friends, schedule a couple more medical appointments, get our annual flu shots and then fly home the following Tuesday. What started out as a worrisome event turned out to be a very good experience.
How did you find out about SkyMed and why did you choose SkyMed? We found a SkyMed advertisement in the Atención San Miguel online newspaper. Staying healthy is a priority now so we scheduled a meeting with a local SkyMed rep who explained that SkyMed would provide us with air transportation and support when we experienced medical emergencies or needed surgery. The transportation would be to the location of our choice from anywhere in Canada, the US or Mexico, including full med jet flights if necessary so we bought a five-year plan plus an additional year.
What would you tell your friends about your experience with SkyMed? We’re very happy with the total SkyMed experience. We’ve told our neighbors, friends and family in Wisconsin and in Mexico that SkyMed treated us like royalty and we were given special treatment from beginning to end. I joked with John about how I would like to use his services on every trip we plan and, much to my surprise, he said he would gladly work with us on all of our travel. We couldn’t be more pleased to have the SkyMed team ready to help us when we need it most. We signed up for six years of coverage and feel it has already paid for itself. Mil Gracias!!
