In January 2012 International Assistance Group launched a new Partnership Program dedicated to major assistance companies as well as medical or roadside service providers. To develop this comprehensive global network, International Assistance Group recruits and trains quality assistance experts and accredited provider partners.

With a footprint reaching 180 countries, International Assistance Group provides a wide range of medical, travel, roadside and technical assistance services, via a unique global alliance of Core Partners and Assistance Partners and Preferred Providers. The primary objective of this network is to help its Partners grow organically, offering true quality and health-focused outcomes. International Assistance Group is happy to announce a new successful partnership signed with D&G Cars, which becomes an Assistance Partner in the UK. This specialized company supplies Roadside assistance services in UK and Southern Ireland.

Since 2011 D&G Cars had been cooperating with the International Assistance Group as Correspondent in the UK, and decided in 2012 to join formally the International Assistance Group partnership program.

Mike Kenny, Business Development Manager, presents his company: "D&G Cars was established over 25 years ago by our Managing Director, Dennis Harding. During this period it has evolved into what it is today, one of the leading vehicle recovery operators within Great Britain and Europe. Our core business is vehicle recovery, movement and storage. From our Recovery Control Centre based at Upminster, Essex, we provide assistance 24 hours per day. We have fully trained call centre staff on site and operate a fleet of vehicles to service our contractual agreements with major motoring organizations, police forces and government bodies. Our control centre also handles calls for nationwide assistance for a number of major companies such as Hoyer Group, Scania and MAN. Once the call is logged we then organize assistance either ourselves or through our network of contractors. Some breakdowns and recoveries, such as petrol tankers, require very specialist expertise. To this extent a number of our drivers are ADR certified. ADR is The European Agreement concerning the International Carriage of Dangerous Goods by Road (ADR). We are also proud to have our own, fully Petroleum regulated bay, which is one of only a few in the UK. Aircraft ground movements are taken care of through our subsidiary company D&G Aviation, this again requires careful planning and expertise. For a vast number of years we have provided Motorsport Recovery to our local, world famous racing circuit Brands Hatch. We provide vehicles and staff throughout the racing season come rain or shine. In more recent years our reputation has spread and we now also provide assistance further a field at Silverstone and we have even worked as far Abu Dhabi."

Employing a multilingual team, D&G Cars is the core recovery and assistance contractor for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics. There is staff based on the main Olympic site 24/7 plus they have vehicles and staff sited all over London.

About International Assistance Group 

International Assistance Group is a limited incorporated company in Paris (France) regulated under the French law and owned by its Partners. This worldwide commercial alliance of independent companies spanning all the links in the assistance value chain was formed in 1992 by five European companies with the aim of helping each other offer quality assistance to cases.

The group's success has attracted accredited companies from every continent and it now boasts 50 partners and a turnover of over €678 million. More than 6,800 employees take care of 77 million end users. Last year, International Assistance Group® handled over 3.9 million cases and 30,000 repatriations, through 54 continuously attended medical call centres.

• International Assistance Group has recently approved that RACC joins its organisation as Core Partner in Spain.

RACC is the largest automobile club in Spain which provides personal, family, breakdown and urgent medical assistance to one million members as well as to a wide range of companies that have hired the club's services. RACC performs more than 1 million assistance interventions per year (817,000 roadside and travel assistances, 125,000 medical assistances and 187,000 home assistances).

Within these fields of action, it offers a wide range of services to companies, with quality being the common factor for them, based on innovation, technology and staff training.

Daniel Cornudella, RACC Travel Assistance Director explains: "For the RACC, quality is the key. The integration into an organization as International Assistance Group, offers us the chance to improve the assistance we provide to our members and customers during their international trips, extending our ability to assist them worldwide. It also gives us the opportunity to contribute with our experience to the solution of complex cases, which is our speciality, and to do it within International Assistance Group, an organization with which we share our stake in quality and innovation."

Urgent Medical Assistance

The Automobile Club RACC is a specialist in urgent medical assistance. To provide these services RACC relies on an operational team of emergency physicians and nurses and own means of medical transport, including ICU ambulances, helicopters. RACC does also offers services to health insurance companies, mutual insurance companies and companies from the banking/insurance sector. The RACC's Medical Service is internationally represented as member of the AMPA (Air Medical Physician Association) and the EHAC (European Hems & Air Ambulance Committee).

International Assistance Group is a limited company incorporated in Paris (France) and owned by its Partners. This worldwide commercial alliance of independent companies spanning on all the assistance value chain was formed in 1992 by five European companies with the aim of helping each other to provide quality assistance to cases. The group's success has attracted accredited companies from every continent and now is proud to count with 51 partners. More than 6,800 employees take care of 77 million users. Last year, International Assistance Group® handled over 3.9 million cases and 30,000 repatriations.

The synergies between RACC and International Assistance Group which fostered this new partnership became rapidly obvious in view of the large activity of RACC abroad. This requires the access to a consolidated network of Partners and an array of solutions developed by International Assistance Group including cost containment solutions, a database of accredited medical and technical providers worldwide as well as bulk purchasing power and exchange of know-how. On their side, the Partners of International Assistance Group will benefit from the powerful solutions and experience offered by RACC, a leading player in Spain.

International Assistance Group is steadily extending its network of Partners and Preferred Providers, in order to provide the best operational solutions to its Core Partners and their customers. Since January 2012, 17 new Partnerships have been contracted and International Assistance Group boasts today 52 Partners companies in the world. Assistance companies, roadside companies, medical correspondents, air ambulance companies, medical facilities, funeral companies as well as medical escorts companies joined the group. All of them agree on the business opportunities and the power of the knowledge sharing events that International Assistance Group organizes for them three times a year.

After the successful application and selection process of European Air Ambulance, International Assistance Group is happy to announce the entry of this new player in its Partnership Program. European Air Ambulance (EAA) is one of the largest specialised air ambulance service providers in Europe and is offering worldwide air ambulance repatriation with outstanding end-to-end patient care.

EAA founders DRF Luftrettung and Luxembourg Air Ambulance have a combined record of over 45 successful years of experience in air ambulance services. Both together operate more than 50 helicopters and 7 air ambulance aircraft and have performed over 650.000 missions. Together, DRF Luftrettung and Luxembourg Air Ambulance gather medical repatriation experience from over 150 countries worldwide, giving EAA one of the broadest expertise in the air ambulance industry. EAA can also rely on a dense network of international co-operation agreements, which ensures speedy and smooth execution of intensive care transports with bed-to-bed service.

By combining the strengths of DRF Luftrettung and Luxembourg Air Ambulance, European Air Ambulance also improves customer service by providing a single point of contact. Specialised, multilingual staff at the Sales & Mission Control Centre can handle everything from quote to invoice via the safe delivery of the patient to the destination hospital. EAA Fleet is composed of 7 dedicated air ambulance aircraft (5 Learjet 35A and 2 Learjet 45XR). EAA is in the process of renewing its fleet changing gradually from Learjet 35A to 45XR with the next 45XR expected in early 2013.

These aircraft are based in Luxembourg (ELLX) and Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden (EDSB). All EAA missions are staffed by an experienced intensive care medical team consisting of at least 1 physician and 1 flight nurse or paramedic. EAA can choose the physician from a large pool of anesthetists, neonatologists, pediatricians, gynecologists, obstetricians or other specialists, depending on the patient's medical condition.

EAA members, DRF Luftrettung and Luxembourg Air Ambulance, are compliant with the latest aviation regulations, the JAA (Joint Aviation Authorities) and have the following certifications: EHAC European HEMS & Air-Ambulance Committee AAMS Association of Air Medical Services FSF Flight Safety Foundation JAA Joint Aviation Authorities ISO International Organization for Standardization.

About International Assistance Group

International Assistance Group is a limited incorporated company in Paris (France) regulated under the French law and owned by its Partners. This worldwide commercial alliance of independent companies spanning all the links in the assistance value chain was formed in 1992 by five European companies with the aim of helping each other offer quality assistance to cases. The group's success has attracted accredited companies from every continent and it now boasts 52 partners and a turnover of over €678 million. More than 6,800 employees take care of 77 million end users. Last year, International Assistance Group® handled over 3.9 million cases and 30,000 repatriations. 

After a successful year, International Assistance Group (IAG) keeps extending its network of Partners and Preferred Providers on a geographical but also functional scale. With this strengthened coverage International Assistance Group Core Partners and their customers benefit from the best operational solutions.

The new Partnership Model has been successfully launched one year ago, and the alliance with 36 Partners on early 2012, counts now with 54 Partners in the world. Providers have been added to the whole Partnership network in order to cover the complete value chain of the assistance activity. Therefore International Assistance Group comprises now assistance companies, roadside companies, medical correspondents, air ambulance companies, medical facilities, funeral companies as well as medical escorts companies. All of them agree on the business opportunities offered by their partnership. In addition they recognize the power of knowledge sharing events that International Assistance Group organizes for them three times a year. A strong operational solution in Finland is now provided by EMA (Emergency & Medical Assistance), who joined the network as Assistance Partner in January 2013.

Cécile Hermetz, General Manager of International Assistance Group declared “We are happy to integrate into the IAG the long established medical experience and know-how of EMA. Our company visited EMA on August 2012 and could measure the professionalism of the enterprise, started by Doctors in 1989 and strongly dedicated to medical assistance.”

As “IAG Assistance Partner”, this specialized company will supply the Medical & Travel assistance services in Finland on behalf of the International Assistance Group Partners. “The oldest and largest medical assistance organization in Finland” EMA Group was founded in 1989 and it is the oldest and largest medical assistance organization in Finland.

The operations started with medical assistance and consultation services. From there on, the activities expanded to emergency medical services (EMS), consulting and training. In 2011, Medivida and Via Healthcare merged to form a bigger group, EMA Group, which also includes staffing of health care professionals and health care outsourcing services. The company staff is composed of physicians from different fields of medical specialties, nurses and other professionals. EMA offices and medical equipment storage are located in Helsinki, Finland as well as ground ambulance garage. This is where EMA’s medical escorts depart. EMA and its partners have a ground and air ambulance network covering the whole country.

Aki Kamppinen, Managing Director of EMA said “EMA is really happy to join the International Assistance Group network. We are looking forward to working together with other IAG Partners to deliver a comprehensive service to our customers. Knowledge sharing and networking were additional important factors for EMA to join IAG. EMA brings to the group a long history and vast know-how in the medical case management and assistance areas. ”

On behalf of the International Assistance Group Partners, EMA multilingual team can provide travelers medical assistance and air ambulance repatriations in addition to the medical consultation service for flight and marine crew, medical clearances for flight companies, emergency medicine and travel related training, which they already provide in Finland.

“The Assistance Partnership opted by EMA is a first step to the IAG Partnership as the insurance portfolio developed by EMA is covering increasing numbers of Finnish citizens travelling abroad. During the last months EMA has won important contracts with Finnish insurance companies which means that EMA delivers services to all the major Finnish insurance companies”, expressed Cecile Hermetz.

About EMA

EMA has treated more than 17 000 patients abroad in 150 countries since 1989. In one third of the cases they have arranged repatriation with a doctor, nurse or intensive care team. Annually about 1,000 cases are handled by EMA multilingual team. Over 90% of the cases are heavy medical cases where the patient is hospitalized. EMA provides Aviation Medical Service and Medical Clearances (medifs) for flight companies.

EMA also offers Medical Consultations for flight crew and marine crew. As medical consultant, EMA holds resuscitation lectures and hands-on training every year. Lectures can be also related to traveling and travel health.

http://www.ema.fi

International Assistance Group is happy to announce the entry of AMREF Flying Doctors as Assistance Partner in Kenya. Since 2007, this specialized company has been supplying Aeromedical evacuation and assistance services in Kenya and neighbouring countries for International Assistance Group as medical correspondent. Today AMREF Flying Doctors strengthens the relationship by joining the Partnership Program.

Sean Culligan, COO, expresses AMREF Flying Doctors "desire to be part of the dynamic high-level organisation that is International Assistance Group and its associated network".

"The largest and best known air ambulance service in the region and the oldest in Africa" AMREF Flying Doctors Air Ambulance Service, based in Nairobi, Kenya, is the largest and best-known air ambulance service in the region. AMREF Flying Doctors has 55 years of experience and expertise providing East Africa, and beyond with the only air ambulance service that owns and operates its own Cessna Caravan aircraft, serving insurance companies and the public at large, including offering evacuations on a charity basis. "An air ambulance organization covering the whole of Africa and beyond."

AMREF Flying Doctors also leases a dedicated fleet of aircraft, ranging from Cessna Caravan and Beechcraft King Airs to Cessna Citation Bravo and Cessna Excel Jets and offers a 24 hour Air Ambulance service in Kenya, all neighbouring countries and beyond. Patients are also evacuated to South Africa, Europe, Asia and North America by private Air Ambulance or on commercial airline with medical escort.

A range of assistance services are also available, depending on the country coverage required. All air ambulance aircraft are fully equipped with certified stretcher systems and carry modern medical equipment including transport ventilators, electronic monitoring equipment, trauma equipment, medical supplies and drugs, for professional ICU patient transport.

About AMREF Flying Doctors

Founded in 1957 and employing 47 Staff FTE, AMREF Flying Doctors has flown over 23,000,000 miles in humanitarian operations since 1957 and carries out over 900 evacuations each year. AMREF Flying Doctors continues to ensure that their air evacuation services are available to people in disadvantaged and marginalised communities across East Africa by providing a Charity Evacuation program to those in need.

• East West Rescue (India) strengthens its relationship with the International Assistance Group.

International Assistance Group has created a new network model early 2012 aiming to expand the group further. The Partnership Program launched in January 2012 has been a great success. This unique assistance network relies on independent assistance companies and providers identified now as Core Partners, Assistance Partners and Preferred Providers. 21 additional companies joined the Partnership Program during the last twelve months, and contributed to the benefits of global assistance solutions. The last newcomer is the industry-reputed Indian company East West Rescue.

Today, Cecile Hermetz, General Manager of International Assistance Group, expresses her pride and happiness, "To have East West Rescue now being part of International Assistance Group - as Assistance Partner. The relationship established by some International Assistance Group partners with East West Rescue for more than 15 years and with International Assistance Group since 2007 has allowed to measure the knowledge and medical assistance capabilities of East West Rescue on the whole Indian continent and neighboring countries including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Pakistan. We most welcome East West Rescue in our ranks and see this partnership as a way to maximize further the quality of our services in India."

Before being officially part of the International Assistance Group Partnership Program, East West Rescue had relationships with IAG Partners as service provider. East West Rescue is part of the East West Group which has been providing health care services in the Indian Subcontinent since 1920 and relies today on a network of over 2,500 hospitals and doctors in the subcontinent.

East West Rescue has been providing Air ambulances and medical assistance since 1969 (43 years) and formally became a company in 1987. Handling over 1,600 cases per year, the 24/7 Alarm and operations center always has a doctor present to assist in medical cases.

The staff speak a variety of Indian languages, Russian, English and also a little French and Spanish. In addition to the medical assistance services and transportation of patients, East West Rescue provides other services such as emergency Medical Backup for events, remote site services, health and safety training as well as travel medicine

International Assistance Group continues expanding its network, which now includes a second air ambulance provider in the US. Each year the company engages newcomers to collaborate in providing quality assistance services; an objective that can only be reached with the excellence of Partners and Preferred Providers such as American Care Air Ambulance.

Along its 20 years of experience in the assistance industry, International Assistance Group diversified its activity, in order to have providers in the medical, roadside, home, travel, and security assistance. Last year International Assistance Group launched a new Partnership Model that has achieved its success, considering the enterprise expanded its network and today counts with an alliance of more than 56 Partners around the world.

Likewise it is present in 38 countries within six continents. To extend the coverage of aero-medical evacuations in the US, Canada, Alaska, Hawaii, Latin America, and more, American Care Air Ambulance joined the international network as Preferred Provider in February 2013. American Care Air Ambulance, founded in 1994 by Milan Floribus, has been a leader in the air ambulance industry with a perfect safety record ever since its creation.

The company has conducted more than 4700 missions for assistance and insurance companies, hospitals, US government organizations, and private-pay individuals throughout the world. Last year American Care Air Ambulance successfully conducted 218 aero-medical-evacuation missions. The new alliance between the two companies delighted their managers, who are motivated to collaborate.

"To further develop positive relationship with, and understand the needs of, assistance companies which are our primary clients," expressed Floribus, current Vice President of American Care Air Ambulance, concerning his motivation to join the International Assistance Partnership Program.

According to the mission and commitment established by American Care Air Ambulance to provide optimal bed-to-bed aero-medical fixed-wing, medical escort, and commercial stretcher evacuation services domestically and internationally with highly-personalized care and special attention to safety and the comfort of each patient, four medical directors worldwide, two chief flight nurses, and a team of over 60 medical professionals apply their extensive critical-care and aero-physiology training and experience to the care and comfort of the patient and any family member accompanying the patient.

Fully equipped airplanes

Sister company American Care Aviation owns N41SM, a Cessna 550, and leases N501CP, a Cessna 501 with the upgraded Williams FJ44 engines adding power and saving fuel. Each plane is equipped with a fully-functional mini-ICU. Medical equipment includes LifePak12 for lung function and heart/blood monitoring, external heart pacers, defibrillators, suction pumps, and sufficient amounts of medical oxygen for transports anywhere in the world.

International Assistance Group (IAG), a worldwide alliance of assistance companies, recently expanded its coverage of the assistance chain, with a new Partnership that was offered to Rescue Nurse International (RNI), in Colorado. Medical Escort on commercial flights is a valuable solution for non critical patients who need to return home.

Medical evacuations and repatriations are not always critical. Some patients need to be brought home with a medical escort, but their health condition allows them to fly on a regular commercial aircraft under the supervision and care of a nurse. This service is provided by medical escort companies such as Rescue Nurse International.

International Assistance Group partnered in the past with Air and Ground Ambulance companies in the USA. To expand the coverage of medical escort services, they signed a Partnership contract with a second Preferred Provider. Rescue Nurse International offers to IAG Partners an efficient and valuable solution as alternative to air ambulances, for non critical cases.

Rescue Nurse International, based in the USA, is a worldwide medical transport company focused solely on the repatriation of patients travelling on commercial airlines. In just five years, Rescue Nurse International has strategically grown to handle more than 400 individual patient transports per year, from virtually every corner of the globe. In 2012, RNI became the first and only commercial medical transport company to receive full CAMTS accreditation and achievement, which stands alone to this day. RNI provides 24-hour basic and advance care for patients requiring evacuation and/or repatriation for non critical, stabilized medical conditions.

From bedside to bedside, RNI has the ability to coordinate every aspect of medical transport including but not limited to: flights with routing options, ground transportation, discharge and readmission coordination, hotels and meals, oxygen and medical equipment, MEDIF clearance and 24/7 medical direction. RNI Founder, Gabrielle Bartusiak, explained her motivation to join an alliance of assistance companies such as International Assistance Group.

“Being part of a worldwide network whose focus is medical services, allows our Company to expand its reach in a meaningful way. Our nurses have the proper documents for International travel at a moments notice. We as a company are excited to be part of IAG and come together for such an important cause… quality patient care. ” “Independent but working together to achieve common goals,” this remains the spirit of International Assistance Group.

IAG Partners rely on the 60 independent assistance companies federated around a central organisation, based in Paris. The animation of the network of Partners is the Head Office’s mission, which in addition maintains a global database of providers (over 3.300 hospitals, over 60 air ambulance companies, and other assistance providers are also available in this exclusive and constantly updated database).

IAG is meant to assist its Partners to grow their business and deliver quality assistance services outcomes; nevertheless the strength of this alliance is not limited to the access of this reliable network. The success remains also based on the knowledge sharing spirit of the group. “International Assistance Group is proud to welcome Rescue Nurse International in its network of Preferred Providers in the USA. RNI has had a long cooperation with On Call International, our Core Partner in the USA who strongly supported the application of RNI. By using RNI, the non US IAG Partners are offered the capacity to rely on a company with proven experience and CAMTS accreditation. Calling on RNI will for sure speed up your medical repatriations from the USA thus decreasing costs and time involved” declared Cecile Hermetz, General Manager of International Assistance Group.

International Assistance Group is a worldwide commercial alliance of independent companies spanning all the links in the assistance value chain. The primary objective of the network is to help its members grow organically, offering true quality and health-focused outcomes. In order to achieve this, IAG constantly develops, recruits and trains a comprehensive global network of quality assistance experts and accredited provider partners. Founded in 1992 by five European companies, this alliance now enables all of the 49 partnered organisations to reach more of the assistance market through the close co-operation with other organisations in the network, thus increasing their competitiveness. And all of this while retaining their independence. Partners located all over the globe share local knowledge and resources, which is then harnessed into a worldwide service detailing common processes, performance standards, IT systems (such as a members-only proprietary database), and pooled purchasing.

The alliance is so widespread and influential on the market that the group can negotiate competitive terms from providers involved in supplying world-class assistance. International Assistance Group is a limited incorporated company in Paris (France), regulated under the French law and owned by its partners. The group was formed in 1992 by five European companies with the aim of helping each other offer quality assistance to cases. The group’s success has attracted accredited companies from every continent and it now boasts 49 partners and a turnover of over €678 million. More than 6,000 employees take care of 76 million end users. Last year, International Assistance Group® handled over 3.9 million cases and 30,000 repatriations, through 54 continuously attended medical call centres.

To further strengthen the benefits of an alliance between international partners, International Assistance Group organises internal forums on a bi-annual basis and has even created its very own IAG Academy, offering training to members on specific topics and exchange of best practices and knowledge. Being part of this strong, committed network provides unique opportunities to boost business and foster personal relationships. Since January, International Assistance Group has been offering opportunities to providers to join the network at a specific partnership level. In total, three different levels are available to suit various company profiles and their needs. To gain accreditation from International Assistance Group and access the many operational and marketing benefits, an application and assessment process must be completed.

Company: International Assistance Group

Address: 9 RUE JEAN BAPTISTE PIGALLE 75009 PARIS FRANCE

Phone: +33 1 55 30 09 10

Fax: +33 1 55 30 09 11

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Web: www.international-assistance-group.com