The Jenkins Family (Costa Rica)
This article appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on Saturday, May 5, 2001.

Family's Mission to Issue Warning

Don Jenkins spent the day laying blocks for a church camp in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. That night he tripped on a concrete asphalt trench and hit his head. The fall would wind up costing his family more than $90,000. Because the accident occurred outside the United States, Jenkins' health insurance wouldn't pay.

In January, Jenkins, 71, of Ashland, Ky., went on a Volunteers in Mission trip to La Fortuna with the United Methodist Church. It was his third mission trip to Costa Rica, said his daughter, Debra Payne, who lives in Short Pump with her husband, Michael.

Jenkins suffered a subdura hematoma and was in a coma for 30 days. He underwent two brain surgeries and was hospitalized for 90 days, 16 in San Jose, Costa Rica, and 74 in his hometown. While still in a coma, he was flown home.

The Paynes mortgaged their house to get the $30,000 needed for an air ambulance to return Jenkins to Kentucky. The hospital in Costa Rica wouldn't release Jenkins until the hospital bill was paid. Debra Payne's brother used his corporate credit to pay the $22,000 bill, which the family is paying in installments. The doctors and surgeons in Costa Rica agreed to accept monthly payments.

With donations from churches, friends, family members and the Kentucky United Methodist Conference, about half of the $90,000 has been paid.

Now the Paynes are on a mission of their own. They are telling everyone to check their health insurance before leaving the United States. Some policies cover health care in another country. Some don't. Even if a policy will pay for treatment, generally it doesn't include medical evacuation.

Church-sponsored short-term mission trips, such as the one Jenkins was on, are very popular. Many Richmond area churches send mission teams all over the world. Some buy special medical and evacuation insurance. Others don't. Several had never heard of evacuation insurance.

Insurance companies, however, say an injury or illness serious enough to require evacuation is rare. The insurance is inexpensive. One carrier sells group policies including medical and evacuation insurance for as little as $6 per day per person. Another offers it at $2.55 per person per day.

Joe Hamilton, associate director of United Methodist Volunteers in Mission for the Southeastern Jurisdiction in Atlanta, said that, in the five years he's been in this post, there have been fewer than 10 evacuations. During that period, about 40,000 people were involved in mission trips handled through his office.

United Methodist mission trips are not covered by special medical and evacuation insurance "unless the team leader arranges it through our office," Hamilton said. "If they don't, they travel at their own risk."

The group that Jenkins traveled with did not contact Hamilton's office and did not have insurance, Hamilton said.

The Volunteers in Mission program just doubled the medical coverage offered in its policy to $10,000. The increase was prompted in part by Jenkins' situation, Hamilton said.

The Rev. S. Gregory Jones, assistant rector at St. James's Episcopal Church, tells parishioners participating in mission trips to check with their personal health insurance companies to see if they are covered outside the United States. The church, which generally takes one trip out of the country each year, doesn't get group insurance. Crestwood Presbyterian Church, which sends teams to Russia, Haiti and Mexico, also doesn't carry group medical or evacuation insurance. But the pastor, Dr. John Daniel, said he is looking into evacuation coverage.

In Haiti, the mission team, half of which is medical and carries its own equipment, works in a remote area where there are no phones or electricity. "We would have to travel for some time before we would be close to a phone to call for help," Daniel said.

Cindy Johnson, missions administrative assistant at West End Assembly of God in western Henrico County, said the insurance is required for all the church's mission trips. This year, church members will make 12 mission trips.

Jimmy Edwards, a member of New Life United Methodist Church in Midlothian, has led three mission trips to Costa Rica. Trip leaders in the Virginia Conference of the denomination are required to undergo six hours of training, which includes how to handle emergency situations and who to contact, he said. "I wouldn't think of going out of the country if you don't have health care and evacuation insurance," he said.

Edwards' former church, Mount Pisgah United Methodist in Midlothian, started a fund to help with Jenkins' medical expenses. Jenkins' church, First United Methodist in Ashland, Ky., also has raised funds. When Jenkins was injured, Debra Payne flew from Richmond to be with her father. Family members from Kentucky joined her.

"We were in denial that this had happened," Debra Payne said. "Dad was so healthy. He'd never been in the hospital before this. I think we were too busy praying to really feel upset. I read scripture and sang to him. My brother talked to him about sports."

Michael Payne added, "I was the one sitting in Richmond crying."

A former investment banker with a master's degree in rehabilitation case management, Michael Payne became Jenkins' case manager. He has a 3-inch-thick notebook of information he collected from Richmond area physicians and surgeons, lawyers and church leaders who helped him make decisions about care for his father-in-law and about finding resources. "And none of them charged me a penny," Michael Payne said.

Debra Payne sees one miracle after another in her father's recovery. Out of the hospital and back at home, Jenkins attended a service at his church Sunday, the first time since going to Costa Rica. His daughter said: "There wasn't a dry eye in the place."

- Alberta Lindsey Richmond Times-Dispatch Staff Writer

Copyright Richmond Times-Dispatch, used with permission.