By: Shoshana Bernstein

Professionalism, medical expertise and timeliness were all in high gear this past weekend as VitalOne�defied the odds and executed a politically and logistically complicated emergency Medevac from�Havana, Cuba to Miami.

It is safe to say that when Mrs. X left Israel for her much anticipated family getaway in Cuba she never�envisioned returning by way of an elaborate airborne ICU taking up the entire first class cabin of El Al�airlines.

The 70 year old woman�s vacation took an unexpected and potentially deadly turn when she collapsed�Thursday morning in the lobby of her Cuban hotel. The victim of a sudden stroke, she was rushed to�Cuba�s severely substandard hospital where it was determined that she had suffered an intracranial�hemorrhage.

�I got the call Friday morning,� explains Isaac Leider, dubbed Rabbi 911� for his world-renowned�success in dealing with air medical transports. �There was no way the patient was going to survive in a�Cuban hospital. The logistics for the 60 minute flight from Havana to Miami are always complicated.�This time the complications were tenfold.�

Due to the holiday weekend, there was no one available to sign off on the necessary permits which�would allow VitalOne to send an ICU jet to land in Cuba. Furthermore, assuming the Cuban airport�handler could be reached and the permits secured, there were no beds available at any tertiary care�(top medical) facility in Miami. Without an ICU bed assignment, the medical parole visa would not be�approved.

No challenge is too great for the VitalOne team. They began reaching out to their high level contacts,�amongst them a �black card carrying� philanthropist, who requested anonymity. With just one call to the�CEO of Baptist Hospital in Miami, a bed was procured.

But the challenges kept coming. For inexplicable reasons, Cuban immigration officials put a 24 hour hold�on granting permission for the VitalOne jet to land and pick up the patient. Isaac contacted the Israeli�Foreign Ministry Situation Room but needed someone in the United States with the ability to secure the�permit to land. Enter Mr. Michael Wildes, Esq.; a well known immigration attorney and former federal�prosecutor.

�I�ve worked with Isaac Leider on many occasions. When I see Rabbi 911� on my caller ID, I know it is a�matter of life or death,� explained Mr. Wildes, who returned my call while on vacation in Mexico.��VitalOne was facing a bureaucratic glitch and with no one available to countermand this order, there�was a good chance the patient would not live.�

Michael Wildes, former mayor of Englewood, New Jersey and a 23 year veteran of Hatzalah, spent the�next several hours working the phones well into Friday night, along with Isaac, to save this Jewish�woman�s life. A board member of NORPAC (a political action committee working to improve Unites�States and Israel relations) he reached out to Dr. Ben Chouake, the President of the organization, who in�turn contacted Senator Menendez� Chief of Staff, whom he has known for twenty years.

Mr. Wildes credits Isaac, who he dubs �an angel� with doing a great job of smoothing the way, arranging�for an available bed, collecting the proof needed for a medical parole visa, verifying that the patient�would not become a medical charge in the Unites States and a burden to the taxpayers (traveler�s�insurance is covering 100%), and securing the written assurances that there was no other medically�mandated option to save this woman�s life.

The situations was further complicated since the patient is Israeli, and Israel has no diplomatic�relationship with Cuba. Mr. Wildes reached out to United States Congressman Ed Royce of California�who serves as the Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Congressman Royce jumped into�action; personally making calls to various State Department officials to help secure the permits.

�This was a truly heartwarming instance of partisan efforts. These are busy politicians who stepped in�and used their time and contacts to affect a positive outcome. Everyone appreciated the fact that we�were Observant Jews, nonetheless on the phones on Shabbos, committed to saving a life. VitalOne leads�by example and I tip my hat to everyone who helped make this Medevac possible.�

By Shabbos morning, permission was granted and a bed waiting in the Miami hospital. The ICU jet�landed in Cuba with a medical team and all the equipment necessary to safely fly the patient, at sea�level, to Miami. Seventy-two hours later, thanks to life-saving surgical intervention, VitalOne was once�again on the scene, flying her via air ambulance to Newark Airport where they had turned the entire first�class cabin of an El Al flight into a completely retrofitted airborne ICU.

VitalOne was able to repatriate the patient where she will receive further care from Professor Zvi Ram at�Tel Aviv�s Sourasky Medical Center. Thanks to VitalOne�s experience and know-how, they were able -�with G-d�s help and the dedicated assistance of the various people involved– to get this patient the�emergency medical care she needed to survive, all at no cost to the family; VitalOne procured insurance�coverage for everything.

Proving once again how fitting the name VitalOne is for a team of medical transport experts that is�considered the number one choice of doctors around the world, when vital air transport is needed to�save a life.

Author�s note: VitalOne maintains the importance of choosing your vacation spot with a potential�medical crisis in mind. At the very least, make sure your insurance provides for medical transport and/or�purchase additional insurance when you book your flight. You never know.