Jet Companion
A Companion to Travel with Medical Assistance

Rudy de Kort, a dedicated registered nurse, had never envisioned himself as an entrepreneur when he started working as a flight nurse in the Caribbean. But it only took one moment to change everything. A couple of years ago, a family approached an air ambulance company where De Kort was working, to repatriate a patient who was being treated for leukemia in Colombia.

“It was a four-year-old kid,” De Kort recalls. “The family wanted him to spend his last Christmas on the island of Aruba with them, which was all they could do for him.”

Despite their valiant efforts, they failed to get an insurance-backed, non-emergency repatriation service on time. In a dramatic race against time, De Kort and his team made it possible to reunite the child with his loved ones by providing all necessary medical assistance. De Kort was deeply moved by the family’s ecstatic reaction to the reunion, and the experience left an indelible mark on him.

Fueled by a passion for assisting more people in need of aeromedical escorts, De Kort established Jet Companion, a world-class medical escort company staffed by highly trained physicians, nurses, and advanced care paramedics. Today, Jet Companion is a trusted provider of end-to-end medical transfer services for assistance centers, insurance firms, and private patients worldwide. With an extensive network of providers across all Canadian provinces and territories, Jet Companion is the go-to choice for clients seeking exceptional medical escort services.

“When we entered the international medical escorting business in 2019, there was this dire need for a specialty service for patients who are on the move in international airspace, as an addition to generalists” says De Kort, CEO of Jet Companion.

Jet Companion has always been driven by the mission to deliver superior specialty services to those in need faster, more efficiently, and at a reasonable cost. It achieves this through a unique customer-centric approach, which involves delving deep into clients’ needs and delivering services that meet their individual requirements. It is no surprise that Jet Companion has evolved beyond a commercial medical escorting firm and diversified its services to include elderly relocation, non-medical travel companionship, and international medical repatriation by commercial airline stretcher service.

With 15 years of acute care experience, including patient transport on commercial airliners and air ambulances, De Kort leads Jet Companion with an acute understanding of care dependency in international travel. The team recognizes that not all patients require critical care nursing during flights, which is why its aeromedical escorts come from various backgrounds, including emergency care, psychiatry, long-term care, and psychogeriatrics. This breadth of expertise allows Jet Companion to offer diverse services tailored to clients’ needs. The ability to identify the varying needs of clients, who are both patients and airline passengers at the same time, and the flexibility to deliver accordingly make Jet Companion a leader in the aeromedical escorts industry.For example, when it receives a request to help a client manage debilitating pain on a trans-Pacific business trip or to evacuate an expat with no access to local psychiatric care, Jet Companion’s choice of specialties allows it to place the right nurse on the right job. All of its aeromedical team members are flight-trained and continue to practice within their clinical specialties. They understand the technicalities of altitude physiology, but also the importance of self-self-starting and quickly blending in with others, regardless of the country they land in.
As a medical escort company on commercial flights, Jet Companion’s international missions often follow the busiest passenger routes to and from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, or Toronto. The company can cover domestic, US-Canada trans-border, and international transfers by air, as well as domestic and US-Canada trans-border transfers by ground and long-range and multi-flight itineraries by air and ground combined. At home, it acts as a bridge between provinces, helping clients move patients from one province to another. The firm does not settle down in any province but is constantly active and flying across Canada, caring for people in transit. Jet Companion is familiar with the medical transport providers on the ground and the challenges, possibilities, and limitations from coast to coast.

“All of our missions today are planned, designed, and executed with the same people-first approach in mind as when we started, coupled with our strong sense of responsibility and passion for excellence,” adds De Kort. “We follow our mission to provide customized care and services for those who need a medical escort.”

Recently, Jet Companion helped repatriate a Canadian woman with terminal cancer who was running a shelter for stray animals in East Africa. The team coordinated with a local doctor to assess and stabilize her while her friends organized fundraisers to bring her home. Three weeks later, the team flew in, picked her up, and transported her to Canada on an airline stretcher with oxygen, pain control, and everything else she needed to stay comfortable during the long journey. She received proper palliative care and passed away with dignity two months later.

Each of these successful expeditions adds a feather to Jet Companion’s cap of excellence as a people-first firm and a longhaul transported in the medical transport industry. This fuels its growth in the future while helping expand its service options. Aside from delivering comprehensive and excellent aeromedical care, the company intends to remain a boutique medical transport company with short communication lines and enjoyable customer service. The team intends that every mission it flies shall be sealed by the human touch to turn a difficult situation into a hopeful experience for those affected.