THE EDITOR, Sir:
ON THURSDAY, August 14, my husband woke up and said he was seeing a blind spot, and in a few seconds, he had fully lost his vision. He suffers from sickle cell retinopathy, and was home between doctor's appointments in the USA.
I immediately took him to Ophthalmology Associates, run by Dr. Calder and his associates. There it was confirmed that he had a retina detachment. Dr. Jones along with them assistance of Nurse Channer, gave us a letter and told us to get him a flight by the next day.
Off we went to the Air Jamaica ticket counter on St. Lucia Avenue, where the agent after referring to (I'm assuming that it was) a senior officer, told us that the earliest flight he could get was for August 25, 2003. He was originally booked to depart on August 27,2003. She said there was nothing more she could do because he had been travelling on a "special" ticket. As the tears began to roll down my face, I literally dragged my husband out of there, because I had decided that if I had to pay more, it certainly would not be to Air Jamaica.
He had also just joined the 7th Heaven Club, so I went there just to have is current ticket logged. There we spoke to Andrea, and I asked to see her manager, who she said is actually stationed in Florida. After explaining the situation to her, her response was, "We (meaning Air Ja) must get him on a flight". She made a few calls. With God's will she was able to get him on a flight the next day.
His brother had already made arrangements with his doctor soon after I notified them, and the earliest appointment was for this Thursday. However he still went to see his doctor on Monday, August 18, where, after the examination, he immediately went to the operating theatre and had surgery done.
I do believe that all these simple act of kindness will help my husband to regain his vision , and we thank them all profusely, including Dr. Zorbin and his staff at UMDNJ in Newark. Nuff nuff thanks to Andrea of Air Jamaica though. I believe she epitomises what customer service is truly about.
I am etc.,
DONNA STEWART
dstewart@anngel.com
