The Tempe, Arizona-based medical and security assistance company, MedAire Inc., which has a representative in Atlanta, offers its services to businesspeople who need English-speaking doctors or even emergency medical evacuations when traveling to China and other hard-to-access countries across the globe.
Recently, MedAire performed an emergency evacuation of an Australian miner who had been in a near-fatal car wreck in Mongolia. The patient, who had fractured his vertebrae in the wreck and could not be transported on uneven, mountainous roads to seek medical treatment, was airlifted out of the country to Hong Kong. MedAire’s emergency evacuation team for China, which is based in Beijing, coordinated the rescue.
“We have a network of hospitals and clinics across the world, but if they can’t handle the situation at hand, we have to get the patients out,” said Myra Jacob, regional sales director whose market area includes the Southeast.
MedAire’s network, which encompasses thousands of pre-approved, Western-style medical providers across the world, includes ambulances, doctors, dentists and hospitals. It is accessed when clients call a 24-hour emergency number that puts them in contact with MedAire’s Arizona-based Global Response Center. The center is staffed with operators, nurses, physicians and on-call specialists, who can either help clients find medical help locally or offer appropriate medical advice.
In addition to emergency medical assistance, the company also provides health and safety training seminars for businesspeople who are preparing to work and travel abroad. An August Web-based seminar, attended by more than 50 businesspeople, addressed medical issues American professionals could encounter when working in China.
The Web-based seminar was led by Greg Eaton, who works in Beijing and is managing director of MedAire’s six Western-style medical clinics located in China, Indonesia and Thailand, and David Richter, who has worked extensively in China and has more than 15 years of experience in international healthcare.
They discussed how China’s socialized healthcare system is beginning to see the emergence of private health insurance and medical facilities, often leading to uneven medical treatment across the country. They also addressed infection control issues, blood supply concerns and respiratory problems Westerners encounter when working in overpopulated, polluted cities in the country.
The company is planning to conduct similar training seminars for business professionals traveling to India and Africa, Ms. Jacob said.
MedAire was founded in 1985 by Joan Sullivan Garrett, an air evacuation flight nurse who recognized the need for medical support in remote environments. In addition to offering services to individual clients, it also provides medical assistance to more than 80 commercial airlines, as well as large marine vessels, including those used by the U.S. Navy’s Military Sealift Command.
For more information, contact Ms. Jacob at (404) 799-3685 or mjacob@medaire.com, or visit www.medaire.com.