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How we helped when this nomad broke his hip in Egypt
Traveler County Of Residence: U.S.
Name: Karen
Claim type: Emergency medical evacuation & Trip Interruption
“My husband and I are quite active and we love to travel. We’ve been on many trips throughout Europe and Asia. I always buy travel insurance, but I’ve never had occasion to use it and there was a small part of me that always wondered whether it was really worth spending the money on it. For the past several years, I have been buying the World Nomads insurance because it covers scuba diving which many travel insurances exclude.
Recently, my husband and I took a trip to Egypt. This was a trip I had dreamed about for years. It included Cairo and the Pyramids, and Luxor, and finally a few days at a resort on the Red Sea where my husband wanted to scuba dive.
We were staying in a really nice resort hotel and as he was walking along their marble walkways to meet me for dinner, he just slipped and fell. Somehow he landed in just the wrong way and ended up fracturing his left hip.
We took a trip to the local emergency room where they determined it was an unstable fracture and he would need a total hip replacement. We considered flying back to the US to have the surgery, but the orthopedic doctor said it was an unstable fracture so it would not be safe to fly. Luckily there were two good orthopedic surgeons from Cairo University in the local hospital and so my husband had a total hip replacement done the next morning. We ended up spending five days in the hospital before they determined it was safe for him to fly home. However, because of the surgery he would not be able to sit in a regular seat and he would need to fly in fully reclined position. I was so thankful that we had World Nomads travel insurance because I called them and they were wonderful. No matter what time, day or night, that I emailed them, I got a very quick response from them. They spoke to us, and the doctors, and determined our needs. Within a day or two they had arranged for our transport back to the US, which included a six-hour ambulance ride to Cairo and then fully reclining business class seats from Cairo back to Seattle. They also arranged for a wonderful travel nurse to meet us in Cairo and accompany my husband in business class so that he could help to manage his pain during the flights. We were also given a hotel room in Cairo to use while we waited 10 hours for our flight.
And to top it all off they arranged for an ambulance to bring him from the Seattle airport to our home.
We have been home a month now and my husband is doing great… he’s working on his Physical Therapy and looking forward to getting back to hiking in another couple months!
The whole experience was a totally unexpected and very stressful end to our vacation, but the fact that I had World Nomads travel insurance was a real lifesaver. I don’t know what I would’ve done without them. I’m so grateful for their help and assistance arranging our flight home. I will never, ever question the value of having travel insurance again!”"
Our emergency assistance team arranged for Karen's husband’s emergency evacuation back home to the US, as well as a travel nurse to accompany them. Our team also helped with ambulance transportation to and from the airport and reimbursed Karen, her husband and their daughter for the non-refundable, pre-paid accommodation and activities they could no longer use.
Claim Paid:
Karen’s Husband - $5,491 (emergency medical services and trip interruption)
Karen - $1,290 (trip interruption)
Karen’s Daughter - $1,124 (trip interruption)
Total = $7,905
This Nomad’s claim may be different, even if the same thing happened to you. Your travel insurance policy explains what’s covered, what’s not covered and if any conditions or limits apply. Ask us if you have questions about coverage or need help to make a claim.
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