“When I first got the call, I thought it was a joke or a wrong number. We’ve had requests to coordinate transfers from out of state, but never one from another country,” Patti Buskey, Care Support Specialist explained.
Care Support Team Members: Jeff Oliver, Logan Johnson, Amanda Aikens, Patti Buskey, Glenn Repko
A person traveling in Cancun, Mexico, became critically ill and was admitted to a hospital there. The patient had a history of serious medical issues and required more extensive care and follow up than that facility could provide and requested to come home to Excela Health.
The travel insurance company and the EH Care Support Team worked together through a myriad of challenges, including arranging air travel from Cancun to Florida and then to Pittsburgh and finally ground travel to Greensburg.
Buskey and the Care Support team worked to offer essential background information and arranged for physician –to- physician reporting, which was a particular challenge as the physicians and hospital staff in Cancun did not speak English. The patient was in critical condition, requiring frequent monitoring until travel was deemed clinically safe and then hourly communication throughout the trip back to Greensburg. The team successfully coordinated every aspect of transporting the patient safely to Westmoreland Hospital’s ICU. The entire process took 3 days of persistent efforts and one in which this team will never forget.
Magnet Minute Week of 8/1/22 Exemplary Professional Practice Successful International Transfer