Victoria man shot in Vegas facing big bills
Emergency medical care costing up to $10,000 US an hour
With emergency medical care costing up to $10,000 US an hour in the United States, Sheldon Mack’s family knows the hospital bills are adding up.
The Victoria man was shot Sunday at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, in one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history.
He was in the city to celebrate his 21st birthday, and did not purchase travel insurance before crossing the border.
“We don’t know about the size of the bill, but know it is substantial,” Hudson Mack said from Las Vegas.
Sheldon was shot in the abdomen and forearm and had to undergo major surgery. He is out of the intensive-care unit, but it’s unclear when he will be discharged, Mack said. “It’s a lesson to Canadians to not cross the border without coverage.”
The family might be able to access Nevada funds for victims of violent crime, or the FBI’s mass casualty unit, which Mack hopes will help get Sheldon home, possibly as early as this weekend.
“Emotionally, it’s been hellish,” he said. “We didn’t know what we were going to find when we got down here. So this has been terrible for Sheldon, a horrible thing for him, and a very difficult thing for us.”
Friends set up an online fundraising page (gofundme.com/a-cdn-in-the-ushelp-sheldon-mack), raising about $15,000 as of Thursday night.
Hudson Mack said he’s not sure he would have set up the account on his own, but that it’s good to see people want to help.
“There’ll be a need for that money down the road because there’s going to be counselling and ongoing emotional support that Sheldon and the others are going to need after this.”
A separate online campaign for victims of the shooting has raised $9.6 million US in the past three days (gofundme.com/dr2ks2-lasvegas-victims-fund), but it’s not clear how much, if any, will go to Canadians.
Global Affairs Canada said it was aware of at least four Canadians who died and at least eight who were injured.
“Consular officials are on the ground and working closely with U.S. authorities to identify and help any more Canadians hurt in this attack,” a spokeswoman said.
At least 58 people were killed and about 500 injured in the attack.
Help for Canadian victims is available through a Department of Justice program called Financial Assistance for Canadians Victimized Abroad, said Heidi Illingworth, executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime. Individuals can get up to $10,000 in emergency financial assistance to cover travel expenses, medical bills and counselling.
The province’s Medical Services Plan will cover unexpected medical bills for residents who are outside of Canada, but coverage is capped at the cost of those services in B.C.
“We’re also trying to find out more about what Las Vegas and Nevada is going to provide to victims who were involved in that incident,” Illingworth said. “Usually in the aftermath of these huge incidents, there are special funds that are created. The state will have specialized teams that help people cover costs related to the shooting and medical bills.”
Canadian travel health insurance policies generally have at least $1 million of coverage, said Will McAleer, president of Canada’s Travel Health Insurance Association. Once contacted, insurance companies will call next of kin, co-ordinate with doctors and hospitals, and manage care and flights home, so it’s important to have insurance, and to have your insurance card ready.
However, Canadians shouldn’t expect much support from their provincial coverage, where the daily coverage ranges from $50 to $400, depending on the province, McAleer said.
“The amounts that you’d be paid for under a provincial medical plan are certainly insignificant; they’re almost non-existent.”
He said intensive medical care for an emergency such as a critical gunshot wound can cost upward of $10,000 a hour as teams of specialists go into action.
LAS VEGAS — Braden Matejka, a Canadian who was shot in the head in the weekend attack on a country music festival, left Las Vegas Wednesday on a 22-hour road trip back home.
Matejka, a heavy duty mechanic and welder from Lake Country in the Okanagan Valley told the Associated Press in a hospital interview that his ongoing symptoms prevent him from flying for 10 days.
He left the city later with his girlfriend and his parents, who flew to Las Vegas to drive the couple home.
At least four Canadians have been reported killed in the assault on concertgoers. No additional non-fatal injuries have been reported.
Matejka, who is employed in the oil, mining and natural gas industry, and his girlfriend Amanda Homulos, 23, had travelled to Las Vegas to celebrate his 30th birthday. She was unharmed in the attack.
After the shooting began that night, they were leaving a tent where they had sought shelter with others when Matejka was struck by a bullet. “The angle must have caught me just perfectly because it knocked me down, right on my face, and I said: ‘I think I got shot, babe I got shot,’ ” he recalled. “She said ’Where?’ I said: ‘The back of the head,’ and she looked and right down my whole back was completely soaked already in blood.”
Matejka said he was helped by police, who flagged down a local woman and put the couple in her vehicle.
The driver, April Vasquez, had been attending the Sunday night concert with her boyfriend and a niece.
The officer told her, “We have a person with a head injury.”
“I just said: ‘Put him in, just hurry,’ ” Vasquez recalled on Wednesday. “I knew we had to act quick.”
Vasquez added, “I myself barely missed getting shot, a bullet braised my back so I’m not sure how I kept it together. I felt like I was needing to help and my adrenaline, shock was so high.”
Matejka said, “I don’t think I have ever seen someone drive so fast through the city, through red lights and got me there safe and sound within probably five minutes of this whole ordeal happening.
“I was one of the first people in the ER room,” he said.
Matejka said he still feels wobbly, his head hurts and he’ll have to cancel plans for a new project in the Yukon.
But he said he’s been amazed by the support of people who say they’re praying for him. Vasquez also said she feels grateful. “I’m just lucky we made it out alive, all of us,” she said. “I have just gained a lifetime friend, I’ve already told him my next stop is Canada.”