An injured Calgary man has been reunited with his family after a medevac touched down in our city early Monday morning and is now receiving care at the Foothills Hospital.
Scott Wardley is the president of Aaron Paramedical and was moved to help after seeing John Kelly’s story on a CTV Calgary newscast back in October.
“My wife and I thought maybe we could help because we do these type of medevacs and patient transfers all the time,” says Wardley.
Wardley called CTV Calgary and put him in touch with Kelly’s family.
The thirty one year old Kelly had been working as an English teacher in Taiwan and on October first he was hit by a car while walking home from work and fell into a coma.
His family was trying to raise thousands of dollars to fly him home to Calgary but Aaron Paramedical reduced its rates for its aircraft and ground transportation.
“There were a couple of people that volunteered,” says Wardley. “People care and it’s not always about money. We’re just helping.”
Kelly didn’t have insurance because he had just started his new job and his benefits hadn’t kicked in yet.
A medevac flight home could have cost $100,000.00 but Wardley’s company was able to cut those costs in half.
“It’s a good feeling that we assisted someone and you know they were wiped out. They were tired they were frustrated,” says Wardley.” I think it’s finished off well and they’re happy that he’s home.”
Kelly’s family says the Taiwanese doctors gave him an 80 per cent chance of waking up but recommended bringing him back to Canada as soon as possible.
His family is relieved he’s home and looks forward to the results of medical tests that he will have later this week.
The family has also been overwhelmed by the support they’ve received.
Their GoFundMe page has raised about two thirds of their $50,000.00 goal.
