Cuba Vacation Goes Bad (1 Viewer)

[Bubba]

This is from a friend's Facebook page. I've been warning people against vacationing in Cuba for years and hope I can keep some Americans from going there.

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My travel buddy had a bad accident yesterday. Fell 15 feet onto concrete-like sand and broke his leg in 5 places. Open fractures thru the skin. 90 min for ambulance. Shit show waiting for insurance to be acknowledged. They want cash. They first took him to a local local clinic then to a ghetto hospital in Matanzas (a small city 40k away) and did not look at him for 9 hours. He lost a lot of blood. I took a cab back to Varadero near 1AM as he was getting prepped for emerg surgery to prepare him for transfer to Havana another 2 hours away. They they've been talking $30k up front even though insurance has been approved. My buddy has a $1500 limit. Guess who has to pay? Insurance company says don't pay as it might be difficult to "recoup the costs".

Never ever get sick or hurt in a foreign country. I hope he doesn't lose his leg or foot. I had 3 hours sleep and had to get the hotel staff to make me food to take to him because they don't feed patients. In a private car now at 7:30 and almost there. He's going to be here a long time. The insurance company would like to medi-vac him back to Canada so they are off the hook for the surgery that could be done at home... and at $30k (also) for a medi-vac (private plane as they cannot fly people in his situation commercially) it's probably a lot cheaper than the tally will be here. But they want to keep him here because (I'm speculating from what I'm being told) they prefer injured tourists (who have insurance) to stay here. I've been in touch with Ottawa but there's not much they can do.

This all happened in the first 24 hours of my trip.

 

[mick]

and what's really amazing canadians have been vacationing to veredero beach for decades and will continue to do so; along with other
europeans and south americans who use cuba as a vacation spot. what a horrific story.

 

[Bubba]

Here are the remaining updates on my friend's Cuba trip.

Apr 12/16 2:47 pm

Update on the situation here in Cuba. The Canadian insurance company is working to get my buddy back to Canada. The $30k to medi vac him home is a drop in the bucket. He's insured for up to $5 million and they are delaying things as much as possible to rack up the bills here. I actually had to go buy him food and water and toilet paper and soap. If you can believe it I had to assist in him getting his MRI or CT scan on some rusted, grimy machine out of the 60's Star Trek series. The computer was 25 years old with the screen phosphor burnt to bright pink. The doctors work 24 hour shifts and I've seen people cut up, smashed up and stabbing victims. Bodies covered in sheets, dogs in the reception area, crazy people wandering the halls.... They gave James is 8 hour pain shot and I've headed to the mini mart for a beer and cigar to calm my jangled sleepless nerves

I could write a book about what I've seen here in 2 days. Thank god for Rogers roam like home. At least I can communicate if not with the locals. Thanks to Sue and Kevin back home for the help. Gonna get my buddy home whatever it takes. Nicest guy you could ever hope to meet. He does not deserve this. Thank you for all the calls and texts. Sorry if I cannot respond to them. It's not about me.

Send him your positive vibes. James Mushrow. He's on FB. Love ya all. W

4/14 12:29 am

James has finally been green-lighted to be returned to Canada. A bed booked at HSC and a great surgeon has been assigned. Hopefully he can put Humpty-Dumpty back together again. Just one more night in the non air-conditioned flea-bag hospital and its private Lear Jet time. Sadly, not till 9pm Thursday with a stopover in Miami to clear Customs (all American planes must) then a fuel stop in the Midwest before 4am arrival in Winnipeg. The process was excruciatingly slow.

He's been a pillar of strength and courage and his spirits are still high. He's booted me out and ordered me to return to the resort and spend some time with my clients and friends. Plan on seeing him to the airport and making sure he gets on that plane. Never know, might have taken up with a nurse in Matanzas. .

On a sidebar my girl Sue told me she had dinner tonite with a friend in Calgary who had a family member go just thru something eerily similar and even more terrifying when she fell 40 feet in the dark while looking for firewood in a remote non-tourist area of Jamaica. Crushed pelvis and multiple other injuries. No travel insurance. Her family raised $63,000 to cover her lengthy nighttime rescue, hospital stay and Medi-vac to her hometown of Toronto 6 days later. Amazing that she survived.

Spend the few dollars for insurance people and just as importantly; be careful. Danger lurks around every corner. Remember; the policy does not guarantee your safety or make you bulletproof. Peace Y'all and James: You ARE Iron Man!

He'll be reading this so say hi to him. And ladies: He's single (and by now speaks not half bad Spanish) Just don't ask him on a date to go salsa dancing.


4/14 Evening

Late Thursday night. Just left the hospital. James has been delayed another day. Say he'll be leaving 11AM Friday. Believe when I see it. Took an hour to get a cab back to Varadero.

140kph in an old VW Golf. Boys are making up for lost time... Passenger is watching Latino hip hop videos on an 8 inch LCD where the sun visor should be. Broads with massive fake tits are filling the screen. Music pumping. Gangsta style. Hope we don't blow a tire.

If I don't make it tell them I died doing what I loved: Watching misogynic Spanish hip hop videos.


4/15 12:00 pm

For anyone still following the drama in Matanzas and is bored watching that affordable video of the water skiing kitten here's the latest poop. There have also been more delays. The carrier who the insurance company hired has an outstanding debt with the Gov't and they are not allowing them to land. It's on a runway in Tampa as they try and iron it out. They ceased all care and treatment and James did in fact signed release forms (for what it's worth) I'm trying to take it as a good sign and we will gladly pay any bills. Oh, he also had a poop.


4/16 7:45 am

James has just departed Cuba on an American air ambulance to Tampa where they will clear Customs. Then a fuel stop in the Midwest and at HSC for 1AM Wpg time.

3 Cheers to the Cuban government for working tirelessly to get him home. And the hospital staff who did an amazing job despite their limited resources. All the staff cheered for him as he got into the ambulance. The job they did in stabilizing his injuries was outstanding. Further surgery will no doubt be required but I'm certain he will get exceptional care.

The only culprit besides fate was the painfully slow process it takes insurance companies to act. His expenses in Cuba were minuscule and no one here was bilking him or causing any delays. Stuff like this just takes time and perhaps changes can be made to the system to help people to receive better treatment and customer service. There is an old saying: "Insurance is great until you need to use it"

Thanks to everyone for your concern and support for my buddy. James has kept his sense of humour thru all this. On that note; I'm now going to drink a laughable amount of Rum.

4/17

James is safe and sound in HSC (Winnipeg, Manitoba) and I'm having a great time poolside at the resort. Scooter trip to town to pick up cigars an rum. Had a great sleep and gonna party hard on our last full day in Varadero. Big thanks to the American Air ambulance crew who landed here twice waiting for clearance and pumped him full of morphine for the trip home. Hopefully he'll make a full recovery. We can deal with his addiction to morphine later. Senor! Quattro cerveza por favor... As you can see my Spanish is excellent.


Now it's Wayne's turn to come home. Clearly, he hasn't lost his sense of humour.

A fellow traveller in the lobby awaiting the bus to the airport felt inclined to to tell me about his bowel movements and the color and consistency of his stools during his vacation...
I said: "Sounds like Nutella" He said: "Exactly!"... I replied: "that's not a good sign"... He said; "Are you doctor?" I said; "No, I work for Nutella"

 

[mick]

yeah you can't screw around when you're in a 3rd world country.....buyer beware so to speak.
i wandered into a local bar around 11pm in a small town just outside of puerto vallarta about 8 years ago.
hung with locals and got drunk, even managed to catch a cab home......i look back at that now and shake my
head how stupid my friend and i were; our wives were about 4 miles away at a casita we had rented - we could have been
kidnapped or worse.
another local boy from our area up north here in midwest was given wood sculpted horse before departing jamaica with parents.
boy was jr. high / high school age......horse had drugs in it and he was detained - his extortion ended up costing parents 10's
of thousands of dollars.
same with your cuba hospital story.....patient has money and country/hospital/doctors/nurses do not.
not a very good situation out there if you find yourself hurt or in dire straits.