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first response


donnie

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No, but we could sure use a more coordinated response to emergencies here. I am just entering all the appropriate numbers on my new cell phone, and I have them posted on the refrig, and I have a big button phone by my bed programmed with, hopefully, the appropriate numbers, but it all seems to involve a string of different phone numbers. We should have ONE number to call, for quick rerouting to the appropriate service. And this is NOT just for gringos, everyone here needs to be able to rely on a fast response to sudden crises.

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I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here but I have gone to an informaitonal meeting about First Response and the following is some of the information in their brochure:

First Response is an an emergency room to be located at Lakeside with its own two ambulances. It will be staffed by emergency and ICU bilingual doctors 24/7. It is a members' only group limited to a maximum of 600 members. You pay a membership fee and a monthly fee. All pre-existing conditions and ages accepted. They will have diagnostic equipment, including 12 minute blood chemistry equipment (6th in all of Mexico.) There are other features, some of which are your medical records computerized, a medical advocate in case of hospitalization, your home location mapped into their system (I think there is some kind of beacon installed on your house,) black widow/brown recluse/scorpion/rattlesnake antidotes in stock, a pharmacy that will sell you your medications monthly at best prices (you pay, of course, but supposedly better prices than any pharmacy.)

Their stated goals are:

Give members peace of mind.

Avoid unnecessary hospitalization.

Speed up vital diagnostics and treatment

Keep members healthy.

Save members money.

It will be located in Riberas, across the street from the Animal Shelter, where the dog shelter used to be. Planned opening is December 1.

If interested you need to contact veterinarian Hector Ladron de Guevara at the vet clinic next to the Animal Shelter to be invited to an informational meeting. The meetings are very small groups so you can ask all your questions,

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I hope I'm not speaking out of turn here but I have gone to an informaitonal meeting about First Response and the following is some of the information in their brochure:

First Response is an an emergency room to be located at Lakeside with its own two ambulances. It will be staffed by emergency and ICU bilingual doctors 24/7. It is a members' only group limited to a maximum of 600 members. You pay a membership fee and a monthly fee. All pre-existing conditions and ages accepted. They will have diagnostic equipment, including 12 minute blood chemistry equipment (6th in all of Mexico.) There are other features, some of which are your medical records computerized, a medical advocate in case of hospitalization, your home location mapped into their system (I think there is some kind of beacon installed on your house,) black widow/brown recluse/scorpion/rattlesnake antidotes in stock, a pharmacy that will sell you your medications monthly at best prices (you pay, of course, but supposedly better prices than any pharmacy.)

Their stated goals are:

Give members peace of mind.

Avoid unnecessary hospitalization.

Speed up vital diagnostics and treatment

Keep members healthy.

Save members money.

It will be located in Riberas, across the street from the Animal Shelter, where the dog shelter used to be. Planned opening is December 1.

If interested you need to contact veterinarian Hector Ladron de Guevara at the vet clinic next to the Animal Shelter to be invited to an informational meeting. The meetings are very small groups so you can ask all your questions,

If you have been to a meeting, who is promoting the idea, a group of Gringos, Mexicans, or both

A few years ago we had 5/6 well meaning gringos establish what seems to be a similar idea.

The "fully" equipped ambulance was housed in the Ajijic Clinic. The idea being that a doctor would be available at all times and part of the paramedic team.

I am not sure why the project did not take off

A few weeks ago the resident doctor at Ajijic Clinic "donated" the ambulance to the Red Cross

We seem to have a similar project already in place..namely the Cruz Roja..sadly the CR is short of money to operated the satellite branch at West Ajijic

Why is there need to run a duplicate service..both seem to need the same thing..MONEY..What am I missing

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As I posted before, you need to talk to Hector Ladron de Guevara to be invited to an informational meeting in which you can ask your questions.

I see no reason to attend an "informational meeting" led by a veterinarian (or anyone else) in order to hear what kind of fees are to be charged.

That is a very simple question, and would be/or not be the "deal killer" no matter what level of services are offered. If the fees seem reasonable and/or affordable, THEN I would want to attend such an "informational" meeting. If not, why waste the time?

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Dear Friends and Neighbors,


If you are interested in the new First Response group that is forming here at lakeside, I invite you to attend a party at our house on November 7th at 4pm. More info is available at:




Best wishes,

Nadine and Henry


To answer the fee question, it is $500 US to join, and $130 per month after that. Hector says his breakeven point is 400 people, and he will limit the total to 600.

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Thank you, Nadine and Henry.

So, the first year cost would be $2,060 U.S. ........plus drugs and other medical costs.

I just did the math, dividing that number by the usual cost for a visit to a general practitioner at approximately $30 U.S. equivalent and came up with a very surprising number of doctor visits.....far more than most healthy people make. For those who are not eligible for private insurance due to age, are not in good health and don't want to use Seguro Popular, this may be a good deal. Not for us.

On the one occasion that we have needed emergency care after doctors' office hours, one of us drove the injured one to the Ajijic Clinic, received excellent care requiring several hours of the physician's time and stitching and were charged around $1500 pesos for the service.

So, it's difference strokes. By all means, do the math and if you attend the informational meeting, ask about the cost involved for seeing the doctors beyond the initial service. .

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Dear Gringal,

True enough. Here's the difference as explained by Hector. He will have available a fully equipped emergency room staffed by some of the best ER docs from Guad (on a rotating basis.) In addition, he will stock his pharmacy with the stroke/heart attack/anti-venom drugs that need to be administered on an emergency basis. In addition, he is purchasing a blood analyzer that gives results in less than 5 minutes. Even most of the hospitals in Guad do not have such a machine. Last but not least, every "member" will have a chart on file that includes a map to your house so the ambulance can fetch you. It's like the red cross, only platinum level. I can understand that it seems expensive, but if it is affordable I think it could very well be worth it. Of course the best way to make sure you will never need it is to sign up and pay up ;-)

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Dear Gringal,

True enough. Here's the difference as explained by Hector. He will have available a fully equipped emergency room staffed by some of the best ER docs from Guad (on a rotating basis.) In addition, he will stock his pharmacy with the stroke/heart attack/anti-venom drugs that need to be administered on an emergency basis. In addition, he is purchasing a blood analyzer that gives results in less than 5 minutes. Even most of the hospitals in Guad do not have such a machine. Last but not least, every "member" will have a chart on file that includes a map to your house so the ambulance can fetch you. It's like the red cross, only platinum level. I can understand that it seems expensive, but if it is affordable I think it could very well be worth it. Of course the best way to make sure you will never need it is to sign up and pay up ;-)

Thanks for the additional information.

Are you saying it's like carrying an umbrella in case of rain? LOLOL

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It seems like a reasonable option for someone who suffers certain chronic diseases or who is at significant risk for cardiac arrest. Could be a life saver and, along with a medical evacuation plan, an alternative to Medical Insurance. I am thinking of a friend with cardiac issues who paid over a thousand dollars for travel insurance, for 5 weeks, last year. This could be an option for her. Its always good to have choices.

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This is NOT health insurance nor to be used for regular doctor visits nor doctor visits beyond your initial emergency room visits. It is an ambulance and emergency room service. I do not know if Ajijic Clinic or Maskaras have fully-equipped emergency rooms with emergency trained bilingual doctors. This forum is not the place to debate this. You need to go to an informational meeting to understand exactly how this service works.

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This is NOT health insurance nor to be used for regular doctor visits nor doctor visits beyond your initial emergency room visits. It is an ambulance and emergency room service. I do not know if Ajijic Clinic or Maskaras have fully-equipped emergency rooms with emergency trained bilingual doctors. This forum is not the place to debate this. You need to go to an informational meeting to understand exactly how this service works.

Both clinics mentioned have bilingual doctors, how do there EM room compare with proposed I am not sure....I guess if this 1 ambulance is busy your fall back is the Cruz Roja

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Dear Gringal,

True enough. Here's the difference as explained by Hector. He will have available a fully equipped emergency room staffed by some of the best ER docs from Guad (on a rotating basis.) In addition, he will stock his pharmacy with the stroke/heart attack/anti-venom drugs that need to be administered on an emergency basis. In addition, he is purchasing a blood analyzer that gives results in less than 5 minutes. Even most of the hospitals in Guad do not have such a machine. Last but not least, every "member" will have a chart on file that includes a map to your house so the ambulance can fetch you. It's like the red cross, only platinum level. I can understand that it seems expensive, but if it is affordable I think it could very well be worth it. Of course the best way to make sure you will never need it is to sign up and pay up ;-)

1. Many would like a single common number to call for everything. Vida Alarm already has this. They will call your doctor, police, Cruz Roja, etc. based on your call or alarm. They have an excellent bilingual call center that could be incorporated for this. Otherwise, the cost is about $40 usd per day to pay someone bilingual to answer a phone (40x30=1290 per month) plus the cost of the system. However, this system is not free, nor paid by taxes. It is voluntary to pay. Thus, very few people do it.

2. "Blood Analyzer"? I assume this is not the large Complete Blood Count / Electrolytes / Liver and Kidney Function machines, plus an Arterial Blood Gas machine where you either have to have a super high volume of patients so the company "loans" you the machine in exchange for buying their reagents, or you spend $200,000 for the machines and buy the reagents that have to be replaced at a high cost whether they are used, or just get old. This is probably a small portable unit like this: >http://www.medicaldevicedepot.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=99400-003XXX< Portable ventilators? Portable suction? Etc. What about radios? What frequency? Towers and repeaters? Or cellular phones only?

Even if such a system is put into place, the cost to maintain its operation is very high. It requires that people who do not use it continue to pay into it. This is very difficult to do.

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Dear Dr. Sam,

Those are all excellent questions, and I hope you come to our get together to ask them. Perhaps once your questions are answered you would be kind enough to write up the responses and post them for all to see. The only (informed) comment I can make is that at Hectors break even point, 400 members, he will be bringing in 52K US per month, which should pay for pretty good docs and meds. As I am sure he will tell you when you meet him, his main motivation for this venture is the abysmal care his daughter received when she was in an emergency situation. Even though she was in a first rate guad hospital, she needed a blood test and Hector was told the lab wouldn't open for a few more hours. He called the head of the lab, woke him up, and told him to get his %$@ down there. Even then the results took several hours. The ambulance will be parked in our carport for your inspection. Hope you can make it.

Best wishes,

Henry Laxen

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