Every year, journalist Victoria Lautman travels to India for a few months.  During one trip, accompanied by her 19-year-old son, Victoria and her son both became ill with separate and pressing illnesses that required support from Global Rescue. 

“It was my son’s first time to India. He had been there two weeks, and it was a pretty packed two weeks,” explained Lautman. “He was sniffling a lot and it got worse and worse. I was running around trying to treat it myself, getting cold medicine from Indian pharmacies. Looking back, that’s when I should have called Global Rescue.  The day we had to take a six-hour drive, he said, ‘Mom, I really think I need to see a doctor.’ So just before we got into the car, I called Global Rescue.”

Lautman continued, “The Global Rescue team provided me with a great deal of information, including instructions to reach an emergency room and the identity of an emergency medical technician.”

Lautman’s son was diagnosed with a sinus infection. He was prescribed multiple medications, including a “miraculous inhaler” that helped him breathe instantaneously. 

Unfortunately, soon after her son’s recovery, Lautman caught a virus. Again, she called Global Rescue for medical advice. “Tests were ordered but showed nothing,” she said.  “After a week, I was fully recovered and recommending Global Rescue to friends.”

“As a parent traveling pretty much anywhere abroad with a child, whether they’re a baby or 50 years old, to have absolutely no idea what to do to help them, particularly in a place like India, is daunting,” said Lautman. “You want to make sure you’re going to the right places because there are a lot of choices. In the first minute that I made contact with Global Rescue, it was literally like a giant boulder was taken off my shoulders.”