I Put EA+ On Autopay to Make Sure I am Never Without It

Recently, on my way to Tampa, my first flight was late getting into Phoenix for my connection.  I was running to make it to my next flight, which was 38 gates away, stubbed my toe on the carpet and fell hard.  When I tried to get up, my leg wouldn’t support me, and I fell again.  Luckily, one of the airport employees came by with a wheelchair.  With the help of bystanders, I was able to get in the chair, and was whisked to my airplane.  I managed to get to my seat by using the handle of my carryon suitcase as a crutch and hopping.  I was in great pain but put on a happy face so the flight attendants wouldn’t know how bad off I was and take me off the plane.

Although I knew I would have to go to a hospital, I was determined to make it to Tampa as my sister-in-law and my niece (a nurse practitioner) were meeting me and could take me to the hospital. Plus, in Tampa I had a condo I could recover in.  On arrival they took me straight from the airport to the emergency room where we found out I had a fractured hip.  I was hospitalized for three days.

When I finally got to the condo, I called EA+.  They immediately went into action.  At that point I wasn’t in any shape to travel home, plus I live alone in a two-story house and would not be able to do stairs.  EA+ kept in touch with me, calling almost daily until I had had enough physical therapy to move around well with a walker and felt like I could face the airport and the trip again.  They arranged for a nurse escort to accompany me, as the doctors agreed that I could not make the trip by myself.

EA+ also arranged for a non-stop first-class seat for both me and the nurse escort, plus a driver to pick us up, drive us to the airport, meet us in Los Angeles, and drive us to my home in Orange County.  I would not have been able to face that trip without this help.  The nurse escort came the day before, took my vitals to make sure I was physically ready for the trip, addressed any concerns I had, and showed me how she could transfer me from car to wheelchair, wheelchair to seat, etc.  She was amazing!  They couldn’t have sent me anyone who could have taken better care of me than she did.

I was able to make the trip home with ease.  I would probably have had to stay in Tampa weeks longer if I had not had this help, especially since both my niece and my sister-in-law were leaving on trips at the end of the month, and I would have had no one to take care of me there. I had joined EA+ years ago because I traveled frequently to far-off places such as Mongolia, Vietnam, Antarctica, etc.  However, I never expected I would need it for a domestic trip.  After seeing what happened to me, at least four of my friends are now members of EA+, too.  I put EA+ on autopay to make sure I am never without it.