Little Evie's Medical Costs
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Little Evie was born on the 28th September 2015 just over 12 weeks premature weighing only 2lbs 10oz!
Unfortunately for Evie, her journey into this world was not simple. We, her parents, (Sharon and Daniel) were on holiday for a friend’s wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, whilst there I got an infection which brought on early contractions.
On the 27th Sep I was taken to Hospiten Bavaro and we had to pay $3555 before I was seen and thinking it would be covered by my insurance later, we paid it.
Here they discovered I had an infection which was causing my uterus to contract. I was given medication to stop the contractions and fight the infection.
This did not work! The next morning the contractions came again.
I was advised I would need to go to Hospiten Santo Domingo 2 hours away as I would need an emergency caesarean and Hospiten Bavaro did not have a premature baby care unit. Not only was little Evie in breach condition things were made worse by the fact I had a cervical cerclage which would also need to be removed before birth.
Hospiten Santo Domingo would not take us without a $10,000 deposit and my insurance company were not responding to paying at this point.
As you can imagine we could not wait for the insurance to make a decision. So we pulled our funds together which left Daniel and I broke! Finally the ambulance was organised and I suffered further contractions throughout the entire journey. On arrival they tried to roll me onto a bed and my cervical cerclage broke and little Evie was born breach before I could even lay flat. She was so tiny and blue it took them a few minutes to get a response, but we then heard to our delight a little cry. She was taken straight from me as I had to have stitches were the cerclage broke.
From here her prospects looked good, we were able to see her the next day but unfortunately she had contracted my infection. She looked healthy but could not breathe on her own.
We were visited by the Hospiten public relations who informed us the deposit we paid had been spent and we needed to pay a minimum of another $5,000 as Evie’s care was roughly $2,500 per day. This we did not have so we contacted our insurance company again who said they were looking into our case, but not to pay any more money as the insurance will be sorted…at which point I explained we had no more to give anyway. The public relations people continued to demand money to the point of harassment even pulling us out of our 1 hour time slot we got with Evie to contact the insurers again.
We were given only an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to visit Evie and sometimes this was shortened to 10 mins if there were any complications with any of the babies in the unit, so all time was precious. I also needed to try and express milk to give Evie a better fighting chance of getting stronger but was not given the time to do so as they continued to harass us. They said that they 'are a business' and as we had gone private we needed to pay or all care would be ceased’. Myself and Daniel had to leave the hospital as I had been discharged, so we found a guest house as cheap as we could close to the hospital, but this was still half an hour walking distance for us.
I was led to believe I was covered on my insurance up to 29 weeks for ‘normal pregnancy’. Evie was born 28 weeks and 6 days at 10.45pm Dominican time. But the insurers disputed the time difference. I would have also been covered if I had had an emergency caesarean. If I had been moved ASAP this would have happened. Instead the wait meant little Evie was put in danger, had my cerclage not broken she would have got stuck and her life compromised.
Therefor the insurers have refused to pay, a medical director in the uk has been reviewing our case and advised we move to Hospital Robert Reid Cabral, a public hospital which was free and was a dedicated children’s hospital not far from Hospiten.
Today (2nd Oct) Little Evie had to leave the private hospital and go to a public hospital; I was not prepared for what it was going to be like. The sanitation and level of care is next to nothing, she was placed in dirty incubator lined up next to other sick new born babies (15 plus in room). The equipment was old and even the blanket she laid on was stained and ripped. Only the mother can visit for half an hour so Daniel was unable to see her. No one spoke English so I was left feeling very alone and unsure. I cried through the whole visit as I felt I had let her down and any progress she had made I had stamped on.
I was then ushered into a nursing room where the mother’s sit and express milk. A lady proceeded to show me how to use their electric pumps, she then washed the pump and the bottles under the tap and stored back away. She did not use sterile water nor sterilise the items. All the mothers use them.
After one of the mothers took me to a small room and sat me in a chair she explained in Spanish that this is where they sleep…up right in a chair! I was too scared to stay.
Tomorrow I will have to as I need to stay there to be on hand should anything god forbid happens.
Family and friends have desperately being trying to help, we have spoken to the British embassy and their advice was to get funds from family and friends.
We really need to get her back to a better hospital and even though we despised Hospiten for the harassment to gain money this really was the best place for her.
We do not know for sure the length of time little Evie will need to stay in the Dominican Republic until she would be fit to fly, but I was estimated 8-16 weeks by the uk medical director before she went into the public hospital, this may now have been lengthened!
At this point I cannot be too proud to ask for help as our little Evie needs to come home and in the meantime receive the best care possible.
Please can you help?
Hospiten estimate Evie’s hospital charges are $2500/day equating to $280,000 worst case scenario of 16 weeks! This is roughly £184,477. This does not include flying her home or myself and Daniels stay here.
Little Evie's photo is of her tucked up safely in Hospiten, I am unable to take photos of her in Hospital Robert Reid Cabral.
Unfortunately for Evie, her journey into this world was not simple. We, her parents, (Sharon and Daniel) were on holiday for a friend’s wedding in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, whilst there I got an infection which brought on early contractions.
On the 27th Sep I was taken to Hospiten Bavaro and we had to pay $3555 before I was seen and thinking it would be covered by my insurance later, we paid it.
Here they discovered I had an infection which was causing my uterus to contract. I was given medication to stop the contractions and fight the infection.
This did not work! The next morning the contractions came again.
I was advised I would need to go to Hospiten Santo Domingo 2 hours away as I would need an emergency caesarean and Hospiten Bavaro did not have a premature baby care unit. Not only was little Evie in breach condition things were made worse by the fact I had a cervical cerclage which would also need to be removed before birth.
Hospiten Santo Domingo would not take us without a $10,000 deposit and my insurance company were not responding to paying at this point.
As you can imagine we could not wait for the insurance to make a decision. So we pulled our funds together which left Daniel and I broke! Finally the ambulance was organised and I suffered further contractions throughout the entire journey. On arrival they tried to roll me onto a bed and my cervical cerclage broke and little Evie was born breach before I could even lay flat. She was so tiny and blue it took them a few minutes to get a response, but we then heard to our delight a little cry. She was taken straight from me as I had to have stitches were the cerclage broke.
From here her prospects looked good, we were able to see her the next day but unfortunately she had contracted my infection. She looked healthy but could not breathe on her own.
We were visited by the Hospiten public relations who informed us the deposit we paid had been spent and we needed to pay a minimum of another $5,000 as Evie’s care was roughly $2,500 per day. This we did not have so we contacted our insurance company again who said they were looking into our case, but not to pay any more money as the insurance will be sorted…at which point I explained we had no more to give anyway. The public relations people continued to demand money to the point of harassment even pulling us out of our 1 hour time slot we got with Evie to contact the insurers again.
We were given only an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening to visit Evie and sometimes this was shortened to 10 mins if there were any complications with any of the babies in the unit, so all time was precious. I also needed to try and express milk to give Evie a better fighting chance of getting stronger but was not given the time to do so as they continued to harass us. They said that they 'are a business' and as we had gone private we needed to pay or all care would be ceased’. Myself and Daniel had to leave the hospital as I had been discharged, so we found a guest house as cheap as we could close to the hospital, but this was still half an hour walking distance for us.
I was led to believe I was covered on my insurance up to 29 weeks for ‘normal pregnancy’. Evie was born 28 weeks and 6 days at 10.45pm Dominican time. But the insurers disputed the time difference. I would have also been covered if I had had an emergency caesarean. If I had been moved ASAP this would have happened. Instead the wait meant little Evie was put in danger, had my cerclage not broken she would have got stuck and her life compromised.
Therefor the insurers have refused to pay, a medical director in the uk has been reviewing our case and advised we move to Hospital Robert Reid Cabral, a public hospital which was free and was a dedicated children’s hospital not far from Hospiten.
Today (2nd Oct) Little Evie had to leave the private hospital and go to a public hospital; I was not prepared for what it was going to be like. The sanitation and level of care is next to nothing, she was placed in dirty incubator lined up next to other sick new born babies (15 plus in room). The equipment was old and even the blanket she laid on was stained and ripped. Only the mother can visit for half an hour so Daniel was unable to see her. No one spoke English so I was left feeling very alone and unsure. I cried through the whole visit as I felt I had let her down and any progress she had made I had stamped on.
I was then ushered into a nursing room where the mother’s sit and express milk. A lady proceeded to show me how to use their electric pumps, she then washed the pump and the bottles under the tap and stored back away. She did not use sterile water nor sterilise the items. All the mothers use them.
After one of the mothers took me to a small room and sat me in a chair she explained in Spanish that this is where they sleep…up right in a chair! I was too scared to stay.
Tomorrow I will have to as I need to stay there to be on hand should anything god forbid happens.
Family and friends have desperately being trying to help, we have spoken to the British embassy and their advice was to get funds from family and friends.
We really need to get her back to a better hospital and even though we despised Hospiten for the harassment to gain money this really was the best place for her.
We do not know for sure the length of time little Evie will need to stay in the Dominican Republic until she would be fit to fly, but I was estimated 8-16 weeks by the uk medical director before she went into the public hospital, this may now have been lengthened!
At this point I cannot be too proud to ask for help as our little Evie needs to come home and in the meantime receive the best care possible.
Please can you help?
Hospiten estimate Evie’s hospital charges are $2500/day equating to $280,000 worst case scenario of 16 weeks! This is roughly £184,477. This does not include flying her home or myself and Daniels stay here.
Little Evie's photo is of her tucked up safely in Hospiten, I am unable to take photos of her in Hospital Robert Reid Cabral.
Organizer
Sharon Halls
Organizer