right away. After a couple of days of testing a mass was found in my right kidney and they told me the kidney would need to be removed.
Since I have a bad heart the doctors determined I would need laparoscopic surgery, but they couldn’t do that at Zephyrhills Hospital and transferred me to Tampa General for the surgery. After I was discharged my body began to retain water. After a week went by a home health nurse came to visit and discovered my oxygen saturation level was too low and insisted I go back to the ER in Zephyrhills. I wound up back in Zephyrhills Hospital for 11 days until they got my fluids under control and was finally discharged.
After all of that I just wasn’t satisfied and that’s when I called SkyMed to ask if they could take me home to Michigan because I needed to go to the University of Michigan Hospital. I talked to Jim Edwards and explained the situation and an hour later he called to tell me my wife and I were booked on a flight with Delta on Saturday. I told him I was on oxygen now and he asked me to get a statement from the doctor and told me where I could rent an oxygen concentrator locally and to save the receipts. SkyMed flew us home, paid for our airfare, reimbursed us for the oxygen concentrator, including the shipping and insurance costs, and we were not out of pocket for one dime!
How did you find out about SkyMed and why did you choose SkyMed? We have been going to Florida for the past 17 years during the winter months and attended a presentation in 2002 at Cross Creek RV Park in Arcadia. The SkyMed representative explained how the services work and what they would do if we experienced a critical illness or injury. We bought it since SkyMed sounded so much better than any other plan because they said they will take us home if we want to go home. This was a huge selling point and we have been members now for almost 13 years. I almost didn’t call SkyMed that day because I wasn’t in the hospital at the time I called but when I told Jim about my situation he carried the ball from there and we were so relieved.
What would you tell your friends about your experience with SkyMed? We tell them our experience was excellent and that SkyMed did everything they said they would do. I had been in and out of the hospital three times in Florida with good doctors, but our home is close to the University of Michigan Hospital. We have been dealing with them for many years and they already knew my case and I really wanted to go home and SkyMed made it happen. My wife and I are extremely satisfied with SkyMed’s services and we highly recommend them to anyone who travels. We won’t travel anywhere without SkyMed and plan to always keep it. I’m feeling pretty good these days and am still receiving home health care. We’re so very thankful we have SkyMed because it’s a tremendous relief to be back home close to all of our doctors, hospital and family.
