FMCAssist and those it helps

One of the newest features of FMCA membership is that FMCAssist is included as part of the membership fee (which is just $40 per year). Evidently this was a benefit that FMCA used to have as part of the membership, it was then removed, and now has been returned. Longtime FMCA members were very happy about this. It came into force on 10/1/2014 for FMCA members (this will be important later in this entry).

FMCAssist is available to members worldwide as long as they are more than 100 miles from home, regardless of their travel mode. Fulltime RVers are always considered 100 miles from home. Benefits that are provided include:

• Emergency medical evacuation/repatriation – getting you home
• Emergency medical reunion – getting a family member to you if necessary
• Return of mortal remains
• Return of dependents – getting your dependents home if the member is traveling alone and becomes hospitalized and unable to care for the dependent
• Vehicle return – getting your vehicle home if you are unable to drive it due to medical reasons (North America only)
• Pet return – getting your animal home if you are unable to care for it due to medical emergency
• Prescription medicine and glasses replacement – shipping to current location if glasses or contacts are lost
• Medical, dental, and pharmacy referral and case monitoring – if hospitalized, can get medical management team to provide monitoring
• Trip delay and missed connection coordination – rebook flights in case of cancellations, missed connections, changes of schedules (expenses are member responsibility)
• Hotel and flight rebookings – assist with change or cancellations of existing hotel reservations in event of unexpected change of travel plans
• Luggage delay, lost baggage, and stolen or damaged baggage delay coordination – assistance with coordination to return delayed luggage and with claim efforts against commercial carrier for lost or stolen luggage
• Emergency return travel arrangements – assistance in making hotel, flight, transportation arrangements
• Lost travel documents retrieval or duplication
• Currency conversion assistance
• Interpretation and translation services
• Urgent message relay – to family members in event of emergency
• Emergency cash advance
• Legal referrals / bond assistance
• Travel intelligence services
• Concierge services
• Access to wellabroad.com

There was a big announcement during the Six State Rally with a cake and punch to celebrate.

Now, if you are a “younger” person, you might think… hmmm… big deal. But, the average age of FMCA members is, I think, in the mid 70s. That means there are a number of “older” folks who are members.

Now, for “those it helps”…

While we were at Six State Rally, one evening we went for a drinks-and-snacks get-together with other Texans on Safari members, including some whom we had not previously met. While there, we met two couples, one of whom were Mary and Clarence. I particularly noticed Clarence since my dad’s name was Clarence.

On the Sunday when we were leaving Six State, we heard ambulances, but since we were near a hospital, we had heard them previously and pretty much ignored them.

This time, though, they were for someone we had met. Clarence and Mary had hooked up their tow vehicle and were about to be on their way to leave the fairgrounds. Clarence told Mary that he was having really bad heartburn and asked if she could look for something in the bathroom to help him. When she returned to the front of the rig, Clarence was slumped over. They called the ambulance and he was taken to the hospital, but Clarence passed away.

The president of the Coaches for Christ chapter was called to help; George and Darlene were with Mary at the hospital, and helped her get the information she needed to get help from FMCAssist. As I understood it, two sons were going to come to Shreveport to be with her, and FMCAssist was going to help by getting Clarence’s body returned to Houston and their rig driven back as well. Just 5 days after the benefit was available, it was of help to one of the members who experienced a tragedy.