Increase In Local, Outdoor Activities Prompts Expectation For Rescue Services

Lebanon, NH – December 16, 2020 – Global Rescue, the world’s leading integrated travel risk and crisis response provider, announced expansion of its field rescue service to include emergencies within 100 miles of individual’s home. Since its 2004 founding, Global Rescue has required members to be 100+ miles away from home to access rescue protection. But the pandemic has increased our time outdoors, and Global Rescue recognized an opportunity to provide expanded services to members – at no additional cost – by eliminating the 100-mile rule.  

“COVID-19 opened the door for people to explore and appreciate the great outdoors nearby, and people flooded through the doorway. But with an increase in local, outdoor activities there is a parallel expectation of the need for rescue services,” said Global Rescue CEO Dan Richards, the architect behind the Jamaica Cares traveler protection program, and a recent appointee to the U.S. Department of Commerce U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board.

Global Rescue is the first and only travel risk and crisis management company to make this high-value change. “Now Global Rescue is there for you, near home or abroad, whether you’re hiking, kayaking, snowmobiling, fishing or simply enjoying the outdoors and you get ill or injured and you’re unable to get to safety on your own,” he added. 

The groundbreaking local field rescue upgrade was unanimously supported by Global Rescue’s newly formed Mountain Advisory Council led by high altitude mountaineering legend Ed Viesturs and world-famous high-altitude climber, Nirmal “Nims” Purja.

“Outdoor activity worldwide is reaching unprecedented heights of curiosity and participation among beginners, experts and everyone in between. The Mountain Advisory Council will provide advice and guidance from world-class experts to ensure enterprise-level member services and overall sport improvement,” said Viesturs, the only American to have climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000+ meter peaks and the fifth person to do so without using supplemental oxygen.

“We recognized an increasing need for the contribution of valuable expertise from elite mountaineering experts to improve the safety and excitement of the sport, and to cultivate and foster the knowledge, wisdom and experience of the leading authorities in the field,” said Purja, who climbed all 14 of the world’s 8,000+ meter peaks in the record time of six months and six days, beating the previous record by more than seven years.

In addition to Viesturs and Purja, Mountain Advisory Council members include:

  • Wilderness and altitude sickness expert Dr. Eric Johnson, Global Rescue associate medical director, past president of the Wilderness Medical Society and member of the Board of Directors of the Himalaya Rescue Association
  • Special operations and critical planning authority Scott Hume, Global Rescue vice president operations and former Chief Operations Officer of the 3rd Brigade 25th Infantry Division
  • Former combat medic with the Singapore Armed Forces David Koo, Global Rescue senior manager operations and past operations manager of the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore.

 

About Global Rescue

Global Rescue is the world’s leading provider of medical, security, evacuation and travel risk management services to enterprises, governments and individuals. Founded in 2004, Global Rescue has exclusive relationships with the Johns Hopkins Emergency Medicine Division of Special Operations and Elite Medical Group. Global Rescue provides best-in-class services that identify, monitor and respond to client medical and security crises. Global Rescue has provided medical and security support to its clients, including Fortune 500 companies, governments and academic institutions, during every globally significant crisis of the last decade. For more information, visit www.globalrescue.com.