Je me souviens Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 While I was at the Grand Prix in Valcourt, I noticed Air Medic had a table with brochures and information. I spent a few minutes to gather some information. The most interesting thing I learned was that if you activate your SPOT beacon, Air Medic will NOT come get you. The two entities do not work together, something I found rather disconcerting. This is most likely fueled by the fact that Air Medic is now offering their own emergency locator beacon. Cost around $350 CDN, once purchased does not require a yearly activation fee. Air medic currently has 4 post throughout Quebec. Soon to be one more in the Tremblant area. They are a private organization, do not receive funding from the government. They are the only ones really equipped to come get you, when you need medical attention in the woods. The SQ also have 2 helicopters, however they are not equipped for medical evacuation like Air Medic is. The beacon they offer does not seem as rugged as the SPOT device, just a visual remark made by me, I have not used either device. I just thought I would share some info with the fellow QR's. Here is the link to Air Medic. As per usual, the English version has some poor translation attempts, and no information about the locator beacon. http://www.airmedic.net/index.php?lang=fr&idPage=24&alias= Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mached Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 Thanks for the info...very interesting. How is your girlfriend recovering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coldsmoke1 Posted March 5, 2012 Report Share Posted March 5, 2012 thanks for the info i also seen there booth in the beer tent im happy with the spot i have now it tracks every where iv ben in quebec Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hparaptor Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 ...The most interesting thing I learned was that if you activate your SPOT beacon, Air Medic will NOT come get you. The two entities do not work together, something I found rather disconcerting. This is most likely fueled by the fact that Air Medic is now offering their own emergency locator beacon. Cost around $350 CDN, once purchased does not require a yearly activation fee... http://www.airmedic.net/index.php?lang=fr&idPage=24&alias= Interesting find. Thanks for posting it. I'm confused with the information the representative provided, since it contradicts their website: You have a spot, and you want to link the 911 AirMédic, it is possible! http://www.airmedic.net/index.php?lang=en&idPage=1&alias= Has anyone contacted these guys or use their service? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actionjack Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Perhaps the point was they are not automatically a direct link to a Spot. Meaning if you hit the SOS there would need to be some commo from Spot to a local first responder which would be the Emergency system is the area. I think you may be able to notify Spot of your membership and perhaps have them contact Air Medic as an option. That linkedpage says Spot is a NON-RELATED service. It also says their beacon is the only one with a direct link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mached Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 Interesting find. Thanks for posting it. I'm confused with the information the representative provided, since it contradicts their website: http://www.airmedic.net/index.php?lang=en&idPage=1&alias= Has anyone contacted these guys or use their service? Yes, I buy coverage from them for myself and my tour customers who request it. Never had to use them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scorpionbowl Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 While I was at the Grand Prix in Valcourt, I noticed Air Medic had a table with brochures and information. I spent a few minutes to gather some information. The most interesting thing I learned was that if you activate your SPOT beacon, Air Medic will NOT come get you. The two entities do not work together, something I found rather disconcerting. This is most likely fueled by the fact that Air Medic is now offering their own emergency locator beacon. Cost around $350 CDN, once purchased does not require a yearly activation fee. Air medic currently has 4 post throughout Quebec. Soon to be one more in the Tremblant area. They are a private organization, do not receive funding from the government. They are the only ones really equipped to come get you, when you need medical attention in the woods. The SQ also have 2 helicopters, however they are not equipped for medical evacuation like Air Medic is. The beacon they offer does not seem as rugged as the SPOT device, just a visual remark made by me, I have not used either device. I just thought I would share some info with the fellow QR's. Here is the link to Air Medic. As per usual, the English version has some poor translation attempts, and no information about the locator beacon. http://www.airmedic.net/index.php?lang=fr&idPage=24&alias= That makes sense to me. Air Medic shouldn't come get you simply because you press an emergency button. Especially since you could trigger it by mistake, or someone else could...unless you sign an agreement to pay the thousands of dollars for a false response. It's much easier to rent a satellite phone for a few [hundred] dollars more, in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrGutz Posted March 6, 2012 Report Share Posted March 6, 2012 My Spot has 100,000 in insurance (Supposedly), but for the trip to the Gaspe I purchased Medivac insurance too. I should look into a sat phone for next year. GutZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hparaptor Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Thanks for the updated information. Will look into the airmedic service, seems to be a better solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actionjack Posted March 11, 2012 Report Share Posted March 11, 2012 Did anyone use the iPhone Spot Connect this year? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) I came on an interesting post on a motorbike french forum that I am member talking about the Spot and the air medic new beacon (PLB). It's a long 6 pages post where the plus and minus are discuss and even the president of Air medic wrote on this post(page 5) For those who read french I let you the link: http://ridaventure.ca/viewtopic.php?f=18&t=12358&hilit=spot+air+medic Air medic had an association with SPOT by the past years but no longer had direct link, meaning that spot will contact the 911 organisation of the area where the emergency signal come from and it's them that will manage if you need airmedic assistance or not. My understanding of the situation is that the Airmedic PLB (or any plb) would be safer in case of extreme emergency but do nothing else. The spot send OK/HElp message to friends and, the main use for me, do tracking that is why I buy it, with the optionnal possibility to 911 in case of emergency... Alain Edited March 15, 2012 by towing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artcat900 Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 google translation My name is François Rivard, president / founder of AirMédic, I am a pilot and paramedic-paramedic training and ex-military attached to 439 Squadron in Bagotville (SAR). I am a member of the forum in recent years, but I had not had the opportunity to write. Guy I think you really knowledgeable, but I'd just like to clarify a few things. I begin by explaining why AirMédic was founded as the rationale for the organsime answer several questions already. I said earlier that I was a former military medical assistant in Bagotville as 439 attached to the role of 439 Squadron (NAS) at Bagotville is to cover the activity of F-18 priority requests and civilians are assigned secondary or answered by CFB Trenton in Ontario or Greenwood in Nova Scotia. Why I created AirMédic, because I had seen a lot of gaps on the rapid response by a cumbersome operational protocol, then in 95% of Quebec's demands were answered by the Trenton and Greenwood, which increased the intervention time for Quebec about more than 4 hours to get to the scene, and I thought if was a member of my family, he had time to die, my family and that's all Quebecers and Quebec. Considering that Quebec had no intention of offering a helicopter ambulance service, the only way was to create an organization funded by its own means. AirMédic consists of Paramedic (ambulance) flight nurses and doctors, our priority is to use all necessary means to rescue the wounded as quickly to reduce the risk of sequelae or death. So when AirMédic receives a call, it's quickly analyze the best way to patient survival, AirMédic has transported over 2700 patients, and 60% of patients who were in the forest or in restricted areas, in these conditions were rescues, we have ten intervention for motorcyclists in the bush now, and none needed the winch, if not we always have a Plan D. In the analysis of demand, one minute of call, the helicopter AirMédic most porch of the applicant will get ready to fly within 10 minutes following the call, it often happens that the helicopters will take off without any information to reduce response time, just in passing, as you know Quebec is great, and most of our volunteers have more than one (1) flight, and, like helicopters, the only reason that prevents us from flying, it's very, very bad weather, fog and ice, even the army helicopters. Therefore, AirMédic is in Quebec, and we have all the contacts in Quebec to send you the best available resource nearest when you can not get there by helicopter for important reasons. It is not infallible, but we did our best, but it is fast and efficient in the context, even more in coming months because we will have major investments to increase our efficiencies. Also, with the beacon is still there we found a way to increase the speed of response, because with the SPOT, we had a lot of problem, the signal never know we went to the patient was due to take another means of communication more certain. I also want to clarify something in the case of North AirMédic did not demand GESOS, but when we talked to SQ later they had the GPS position of GEOS, but they had been contacted by satellite cell. So with the BLP, as Guy has explained, this is the best system currently, in the case or a member of the ELT mutton, AirMédic will be the first notified, and in the first minute of analysis, no matter if you are in the WORLD, AirMédic proceed to send you the best resource. So our goal, for as little as $ 0.21 per day for membership is to save lives. hoping it will answer many of your questions. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or email francoisr@airmedic.net -1-866-673-3838 Francois Rivard President / Founder AirMédic em3600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artcat900 Posted March 15, 2012 Report Share Posted March 15, 2012 Copy of a letter I just sent to GEOS lets see what happens Hello, I snowmobile in Quebec Canada quite often and have a spot locator becon that I carry with me. I was under the assumption that you worked directly with a service called AIRMEDIC in Quebec directly in case of a medical emergency. Now I found this letter from Air Medic online ( see copy and paste below) Would you be so kind as to comment on this so that I may have a better understanding as to what happens if I am ever in need of medical assistance and depress the SOS button on my spot locator becon. Thank you Tom Bolduc My name is François Rivard, president / founder of AirMédic, I am a pilot and paramedic-paramedic training and ex-military attached to 439 Squadron in Bagotville (SAR). I am a member of the forum in recent years, but I had not had the opportunity to write. Guy I think you really knowledgeable, but I'd just like to clarify a few things. I begin by explaining why AirMédic was founded as the rationale for the organsime answer several questions already. I said earlier that I was a former military medical assistant in Bagotville as 439 attached to the role of 439 Squadron (NAS) at Bagotville is to cover the activity of F-18 priority requests and civilians are assigned secondary or answered by CFB Trenton in Ontario or Greenwood in Nova Scotia. Why I created AirMédic, because I had seen a lot of gaps on the rapid response by a cumbersome operational protocol, then in 95% of Quebec's demands were answered by the Trenton and Greenwood, which increased the intervention time for Quebec about more than 4 hours to get to the scene, and I thought if was a member of my family, he had time to die, my family and that's all Quebecers and Quebec. Considering that Quebec had no intention of offering a helicopter ambulance service, the only way was to create an organization funded by its own means. AirMédic consists of Paramedic (ambulance) flight nurses and doctors, our priority is to use all necessary means to rescue the wounded as quickly to reduce the risk of sequelae or death. So when AirMédic receives a call, it's quickly analyze the best way to patient survival, AirMédic has transported over 2700 patients, and 60% of patients who were in the forest or in restricted areas, in these conditions were rescues, we have ten intervention for motorcyclists in the bush now, and none needed the winch, if not we always have a Plan D. In the analysis of demand, one minute of call, the helicopter AirMédic most porch of the applicant will get ready to fly within 10 minutes following the call, it often happens that the helicopters will take off without any information to reduce response time, just in passing, as you know Quebec is great, and most of our volunteers have more than one (1) flight, and, like helicopters, the only reason that prevents us from flying, it's very, very bad weather, fog and ice, even the army helicopters. Therefore, AirMédic is in Quebec, and we have all the contacts in Quebec to send you the best available resource nearest when you can not get there by helicopter for important reasons. It is not infallible, but we did our best, but it is fast and efficient in the context, even more in coming months because we will have major investments to increase our efficiencies. Also, with the beacon is still there we found a way to increase the speed of response, because with the SPOT, we had a lot of problem, the signal never know we went to the patient was due to take another means of communication more certain. I also want to clarify something in the case of North AirMédic did not demand GESOS, but when we talked to SQ later they had the GPS position of GEOS, but they had been contacted by satellite cell. So with the BLP, as Guy has explained, this is the best system currently, in the case or a member of the ELT mutton, AirMédic will be the first notified, and in the first minute of analysis, no matter if you are in the WORLD, AirMédic proceed to send you the best resource. So our goal, for as little as $ 0.21 per day for membership is to save lives. hoping it will answer many of your questions. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or email francoisr@airmedic.net -1-866-673-3838 Francois Rivard President / Founder AirMédic em3600 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artcat900 Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Response from Geos Hello Tom When a SPOT sos signal is sent by the user the exact latitude and longitude are transmitted to the Geos Response Center in Texas together with all recorded information of the user. Normally Geos will contact the emergency services for that location and request that they attend. Geos keeps in almost constant contact with them until the incident is finally resolved. GEOS has an arrangement with Airmedic. If a Spot user pays a small monthly fee to Airmedic Geos will contact Airmedic direct and not the emergency services. Airmedic then, of course, launch a medical helicopter. You may find the attached of interest Travel Safely Regards Bob Davis (Geos) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actionjack Posted March 16, 2012 Report Share Posted March 16, 2012 Hmmmm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowgirl38 Posted March 21, 2012 Report Share Posted March 21, 2012 Thanks for the info...very interesting. How is your girlfriend recovering? Since I see that he he didnt respond to the how's your girlfriend recovering question i figured i would tell you myself LOL I am doing great. I put on over 2000 miles in 5 trips this season. First ride of the season i was a little sore but not so much anymore. I feel worse sitting behind a desk all day than i do riding maybe i should just quit work and ride all the time :) Thanks for asking by the way. Hope you had a great season and lets pray next season we will have more snow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revct1 Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 Hi "Snowgirl", It is good to hear you are doing well. Impressive mileage for what you went thru. A true QuebecRider. Take care and hope to see you at the Gathering. Jack & Sandi :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revct1 Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 I'm reading thru this post and my understanding is Spot will contact the local emergency services unless Spot is directed by the consumer to contact AirMedic. AirMedic has their own beacon (signalling device) therefore Spot is AirMedic's competition. If the consumer pays a fee to both Spot and AirMedic, then they will talk to each other. To me it seems like AirMedic is the better buy because they are the ones that are actually performing the rescue. Is there a weakness in their beacon compared to Spot's signal? Spot's strong point is their signal is worldwide and not just for use in Quebec. I wonder if AirMedic would be interested in a contract with a group of consumers, i.e. QuebecRiders? I'm rambling along here but what do you think? Any feedback? Jack & Sandi :unsure: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NSGTX1200 Posted March 23, 2012 Report Share Posted March 23, 2012 SPOT will contact the local emergency services because AirMedic is a private company which has to directly bill someone in order to recover their costs which they state as averaging between $8000-$20,000 per mission. Local emergency services are typically governement funded. A membership to AirMedic is $75/person and only applies to that person, so if someone in your group doesn’t have coverage and is in need of medical help, your coverage doesn’t transfer to that person and they’re on the hook for the $8000-$20,000. AirMedic’s signally device is a PLB which has been around for decades and transmits a frequency, nothing else. They’re not really in competition with SPOT because SPOT can be used for other functions such as marking places with GPS coordinates and communicating with your own designated contact and help group. If you’re traveling alone etc and have break-down issues, SPOT can be used to get help in situations where AirMedic is not a justified use. You pay a fee to use SPOT (~$125/year) and have access to their satellite network, SPOT will talk to AirMedic when you have paid the membership fees to AirMedic because now the cost of the helicopter ride is covered by you and not SPOT. The best of both worlds is to use SPOT and pay the $75/person for AirMedic. SPOT has other uses besides SOS emergencies, such as marking trails and places, keeping in touch with family so they know where you are. If you have a Delormes GPS/SPOT or Iphone/SPOT combination you can send 1-way text messages describing your emergency situation or to friends saying going to be late, having a good time. A better system, although more expensive is InReach which is similar to SPOT but runs off of the Iridium satellite system and can be used for 2-way text messaging communication. Since I ride in other areas than just Quebec, SPOT is a more universal tool for me. I use SPOT on a regular basis, but fortunately not the SOS feature yet. A PLB has no other use and I feel 99 % of the time my issues will be break-downs, getting stuck or lost which won’t constitute or justify the use of AirMedic. In the 1 % case of needing medical help I hope local rescue services get the job done, but there are never any guranttee’s. I think a contract with “Quebec Riders” would have a limited following, most people won’t lay-out $350 (typical cost) for a PLB and then an annual fee on-top. I also think there are a limited number of people which subscribe to SPOT. A small group doesn’t garner much incentive for savings and at $75/ person which doesn’t seem excessive for an annual insurance policy, how much do you really expect to save? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 (edited) I think the same way as you NSGTX1200 , in my case it's the SPOT tracking that is the main feature for us to let my family and friends know where we are and the 911 is a nice add option. There is no "universal" better option,it depend what you exactly want and how much you are ready to spend... I think that if a people only want to buy the safer device to use in case of life threatening cases and don't want other features, the PLB beacons are more reliable,safer and would be the way to go. Both the spot and PLB beacons are also a good option because in a real severe emergency case, you would trigger both of them which would eliminate false trigger concern, indicate a severe situation and accelerate the rescue, but again more$$$$ just in case... If the consumer pays a fee to both Spot and AirMedic, then they will talk to each other. I had read few weeks ago that Air-medic no-longer offer the link between them and Spot. Because I can't find where and want this to be clear, I just wrote an e-mail to Air-medic asking to clarify that... I will come back to you when I get an the answer... Alain Edited March 24, 2012 by towing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artcat900 Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Here is a link to the spot geos page. With this membership you get up to $100,000.00 reimbursement if your rescue involves the use of private services (AIRMEDIC COSTS for example) I personally have this add on to my spot service for $12.95 per year http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=104 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted March 24, 2012 Report Share Posted March 24, 2012 Here's the inreach option NSGTX1200 mention... nice features over the spot: two-way messaging, and compared to the SPOT connect, the base unit have all features buttons on it and can be use as is without smartphone connection, you connect it just for texting... but more$$$ over spot http://www.gpscentral.ca/products/delorme/inreach-satellite-communicator.html?utm_source=March+Newsletter++2012&utm_campaign=Jan+Newsletter+2012&utm_medium=email Alain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted March 26, 2012 Report Share Posted March 26, 2012 I had read few weeks ago that Air-medic no-longer offer the link between them and Spot. Because I can't find where and want this to be clear, I just wrote an e-mail to Air-medic asking to clarify that... I will come back to you when I get an the answer... Alain Got the replied from Daniel G Vaillancourt from Air-medic to my question about their agreement with Spot. The answer is what I heard and they no longer offer this service. Those who are already under this agreement with them and pay for this service($5,50/month) will continue to receive the service but they do not offer it to new customer. You need to buy their new Fast Find beacon to have a direct link with them... Alain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
182ray Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 I spoke to Lionel from Air-Medic Saturday at the Daytona. What I took away from the conversation is there could be a delay using Spot to contact Air-Medic. He suggested a sat phone to call them direct or thier PLB. He said it's $70 per person per year. You can add a spouse or children for additional fees. They also have a 2 week plan, don't recall the price. He said the minimum charge is $3,000. That covers 3 hours. The average call is 4 hours. The additional time is $1,000 per hour. I explained that we ride all over Quebec he said they cover it all & them some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
revct1 Posted March 27, 2012 Report Share Posted March 27, 2012 Thank you everyone. I'm learning what the options are and the advantages / disadvantages of each option. Jack Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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