A New York family vacationing on St. Martin Island in the Caribbean suddenly experienced a medical emergency. The 30-year-old father suffered a stroke, with severe symptoms including sudden numbness and weakness of the face, arm and leg on one side of the body. He was taken to a local hospital that is ill-equipped to handle such a crisis. The stricken family contacted VitalOne to request urgent assistance.The call was received at 8:00 p.m. and Rabbi Leider immediately set to work to initiate a hospital transfer. After arranging the logistics of having a Medivac, which is an ICU jet staffed by a critical care team, consisting of an icu physician, ccu nurse and a respiratory therapist, fly the patient for the four-hour flight to New York, a major obstacle arose: the only airport on the island is closed every night from 9:00 p.m. until 7:00 a.m.! But Rabbi Leider was determined to get the patient to a facility where he can receive the urgent care he needs. He contacted numerous influential people to intervene. His profound efforts payed off and he managed to achieve the impossible, the airport was kept open to enable the transfer.
Queens Hatzola awaited the ICU jet at Teterboro Airport and took the patient to the Columbia Presbyterian Neurological ICU, where the young man is thankfully doing much better. VitalOne proved once again that when a life is at stake, they will never give up.
