Westworld Alberta
Issue link: http://westworldmagazine.ama.ab.ca/i/402160
bon voyage 42 W e s t W o r l d a l b e r t a | w i n t e r 2 0 1 4 (fLoWer) istocK, (surfing) sean DaveY/gettY images Young and Wise: Kyle Oelke SAVED: $26,000 hen it comes to travel medical emergencies, we often think of snowbirds and the 60-plus set. But any traveller, even a healthy 20-something surfer, can break a leg, catch the fl u – or get appendicitis. Take Kyle Oelke, a 23-year-old Calgar- ian who spent part of last winter in Kailua- Kona, Hawaii, volunteering at a Christian university for Youth with a Mission. "I was on maintenance – grounds. I was helping run the campus," says Oelke. Not to mention surfi ng and soaking up the island sunshine in his spare time. It was his fi rst trip out of the country. Prior to leaving, he'd bought travel insurance through AMA. " e university had to have it on record. ey don't let you come down if you don't have travel medi- cal insurance," he says. And that turned out to be a very good thing. In mid-March, with just two weeks left in his Hawaiian sojourn, Oelke devel- oped a "nasty stomach ache" and cramping. "We had a doctor onsite. I slept through the night with it, but it kept waking me up, so in the morning, he sent me to the hospital," he says. A school employee drove him down to the Kona Community Hospital. Before the hospital staff would perform any tests, like a CT scan, they had to call his insurer. So Oelke handed over his AMA travel medical insurance wallet card and they made the call. From there, he was good to go. e tests revealed he had appendicitis, and he was scheduled for an emergency appen- dectomy later that day. While the hospital bills were paid directly through insurance, the surgeon required payment upfront. "I had to spend a grand of my own money, I think, while I was there," says Oelke. He was later reim- bursed. Unfortunately this is something that Canadian insurers can't control – some American hospitals require pre-payment for certain services and some don't. After that, Oelke spent a couple of nights recovering in the hospital. anks to the insurance, the only things he really had to worry about were getting better – and reassuring his parents back home. Today, Oelke has pretty much recov- ered from his ordeal. Looking back, he saved a chunk of change: he was reim- bursed for his out-of-pocket $1,000, and prevented from having to pay $25,000 more for the medical services he received in Kona. All thanks to picking up an Worry-free on the waves: no matter how old you are, you need travel medical insurance when you leave Alberta. "We had a doctor onsite. I slept through W W W