Family questions costs because son was not taken by
helicopter
By Rachelle Gines Staff Writer
Gilroy – CALSTAR officials told the Trejo family that that their insurance company would pay most or all of the bill for a helicopter sent to the scene of the accident where 5-year-old Brayan Trejo was struck and killed by a motorist.
Although the Trejo family is relieved at the news, 19-year-old Marisela Trejo said her father questions why anyone, his insurance company Kaiser Permanente included, should have to pay for a helicopter ride that his son wasn’t stable enough to take.
“Brayan didn’t even go to the hospital in the helicopter, he went in the ambulance instead. How come this is so?” Jesus Mendoza-Trejo Sr. said in Spanish through his daughter Marisela Trejo. “What if this happened to another family, even more poor than us, and without insurance. What would they do?”
CALSTAR officials declined to comment on why the bill still had to be paid, saying that they do not know all the specifics of the case. However, they did say that once a helicopter is dispatched, base costs average from $15,000-$20,000.
Brayan Trejo was riding his scooter alongside his 13-year-old brother Jesus Trejo Jr. in the crosswalk of an intersection near his home on the afternoon of June 27, when a Gilroy woman struck him with her truck, killing the boy. The case has been forwarded to the District Attorney’s office.
Though a CALSTAR helicopter arrived at the scene, medical officials determined that the young child was not stable enough for the flight from Church and 10th streets to Saint Louise Regional Hospital, so the boy was taken by ambulance instead. Medical personnel from the CALSTAR helicopter joined the medical crew in the ambulance.
Trejo family advocate and friend, Dionsio Palencia, said that he, Mendoza-Trejo Sr. and Marisela Trejo spoke with a Sacramento CALSTAR claims representative over a speakerphone from his office Tuesday. Palenica said the representative told them that the Trejo family should receive a letter by the end of the week stating that insurance would cover most if not all of the $13,000 bill, down from the original bill of $20,000.
“After we were directed from person to person when we called, the man that we spoke with was helpful,” Gilroy resident Palencia said.
In an e-mail to the Dispatch, Mike Nichols, development manager of CALSTAR confirmed that insurance would cover the costs of the bill.
“Fortunately, the Trejo family was covered by Kaiser insurance, which has a provision for emergency air transport,” Nichols wrote from his Sacramento office.
Robertina Franco of Gilroy was driving the vehicle that struck and killed Brayan Trejo. Karl Sonkin, regional-media relations specialist for Kaiser said that unlike auto insurance companies, Kaiser does not go after other health insurance companies to recoup costs.
Nichols acknowledged that the cost was expensive, and said that in response, CALSTAR began a membership program in 2000 that waives all or most costs of a helicopter ride should a member ever need one. He said that there are currently more than 9,500 members, and that individual memberships start at $40.
For more information on the CALSTAR membership program, call 1-888-207-5433.
Rachelle Gines is an intern attending San Francisco State University. Reach her at 847-7158 or rg****@************ch.com.
