Air Ambulance From Mexico to Chicago

Medical transport from Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Guerrero and Zacatecas to Chicago hospitals. For families, and for the clubes de oriundos whose members make the trip every year.

The trip almost nobody plans for

One in five Chicagoans is of Mexican origin, and most of that community traces back to five states: Michoacán, Jalisco, Guanajuato, Guerrero and Zacatecas. Every December, and again around the fiestas patronales, a large part of Little Village, Pilsen, Cicero, Berwyn, Aurora and Waukegan goes home for two or three weeks.

Almost all of them are covered by a health plan in Illinois that does nothing for them the moment they land in Morelia.

What actually goes wrong

The pattern repeats. An older relative travels for the holidays, has a stroke or a cardiac event in a town an hour or two from the nearest real hospital, and is stabilised somewhere regional. The care is often perfectly competent. The problem comes next: the patient is stable but needs weeks of rehabilitation, their cardiologist is in Chicago, their insurance is in Chicago, and the family cannot stay in Mexico for a month.

That is when somebody calls us, usually with no coverage for the flight and a bill they did not expect. A transport arranged at that point is a full-price transport.

Where we fly from

Michoacán — Morelia, Uruapan, Lázaro Cárdenas, Apatzingán and Zamora, and the towns around them.
Jalisco — Guadalajara, Puerto Vallarta and the Los Altos region.
Guanajuato — León, Bajio, Irapuato, Celaya and San Miguel.
Zacatecas — Zacatecas city and Jerez.
Guerrero — Acapulco, Zihuatanejo and Chilpancingo.

Into Chicago: Midway and O’Hare, with ground ambulance to Rush, Northwestern, University of Chicago, Loyola, Advocate, or whichever hospital holds the patient’s records. If the patient needs a specific centre, we fly them there rather than to the nearest field.

Why a direct flight matters more than it sounds

Chicago is roughly four hours from Bajio in a midsize jet. The alternative families are often offered is a commercial flight with a connection, which for a patient on oxygen or with reduced mobility means two aircraft, two boarding processes, a terminal transfer and no medical crew in between.

We fly the patient from the hospital bed in Mexico to the hospital bed in Chicago, with the same medical crew throughout. For a stable patient we will tell you honestly when a medical escort on a commercial flight is adequate, because it costs a fraction of a dedicated aircraft.

For clubes de oriundos and federations

If you lead a club de oriundos or a state federation in Chicago, this is worth ten minutes of your time.

Chicago has around 270 clubes de oriundos registered with the Mexican Consulate, grouped into 17 state federations — Casa Michoacán, FEDZAC, Casa Guanajuato and the others under CONFEMEX. Between them they reach more households from these five states than any advertising we could buy.

Your members travel to the same municipio, often in the same weeks, and many of them are older or travelling with elderly parents. One serious illness during the fiesta or over Christmas turns into a family raising forty thousand dollars on GoFundMe in a week. We have watched it happen more than once.

We can set up collective membership for a club or federation, so your members are covered as a group rather than one by one. We will also come and explain it at a meeting, in Spanish, with no obligation and nothing to sign on the night. If your club already fundraises for an ambulance or a clinic back home, this is the same instinct pointed at your own members.

Write to us and ask for the clubes de oriundos desk.

Before the next trip: the Paisano membership

Most of the calls we take from Chicago families are made after something has already happened, when the only option left is a full-price transport arranged in a hurry.

The Paisano membership costs US$119 and covers a trip of up to 30 days. If the member is hospitalised in Mexico during that window and needs to come back, the transport home to the hospital of their choice is covered: ICU jet or medical escort depending on what the patient clinically needs, plus a ground ambulance inside Mexico, travel for one companion where the aircraft allows, and a 24/7 line answered in Spanish and English.

For families who travel to Michoacán, Jalisco or Guanajuato two or three times a year, the annual membership at US$349, or US$499 for a household, works out cheaper than buying the 30-day cover each trip.

Cancel within 7 days of purchase for a full refund, provided the trip has not started and no claim has been made. Transport to the United States requires documentation permitting lawful entry; the membership does not create a right of entry and does not replace a visa.

See the membership plans and sign up — or read the guía del Programa Paisano en español.

Licensing and authority

Jet Rescue Air Ambulance operates as Med Jets USA, Inc. under Florida Department of Health EMS Service Provider licence AIR9505, status clear, verifiable on the State of Florida public licence register. In Mexico we operate as Med Jets S.A. de C.V. under AOC MTS/2015. Jet Rescue Air Ambulance is an indirect air carrier; all flights are operated by FAA Part 135 certificated direct air carriers or their foreign equivalents. Flying patients since 1994.

If it has already happened

Call us anyway. Send a photo of the insurance card front and back, the patient name and date of birth, the hospital they are in, and a short description of the medical situation. If there is no passport, say so — it is a smaller obstacle than most people think. You will reach a mission coordinator, not a call centre, and the benefits review costs nothing.