Barry Kriger talks about his accident

22News Anchor Barry Kriger's road to recovery was long but he's ready to get back to work on Monday.

Kriger credits a type of insurance he purchased before his vacation for getting him back home to get the care he needed.

Kriger said, “I was on vacation in Mexico with a bunch of my friends, we go every year; we're paraglider pilots." 

Eight days into his ten day trip this January, a van Kriger was a passenger in swerved to avoid another car and crashed.

He explained, “I got hurt pretty bad, I broke almost all my ribs, broke my pelvis, my collar bone and turns out I injured my heart." 

Kriger was first sent to a village hospital and then transferred to a hospital in Mexico City.

He stayed there for 8 days until he was stable enough to fly home.

Kriger said, "There was no way that I could sit in a plane or go through a security screening, I needed a private air ambulance and because I purchased this evacuation insurance I actually rode a Lear Jet on a stretcher staffed with a doctor and nurse all the way home with no cost to me."   

Evacuation insurance isn't a luxury; it's actually something anyone who travels internationally should look into.

Steve Brochu, the VP of insurance at AAA Pioneer Valley , said evacuation insurance can be bought separately or as part of a package vacation insurance plan.

He said, “The last thing anyone is thinking about when they're traveling to exotic place is what happens if I get injured." 

In Kriger's case, the care and transportation he received from Mexico back to New England would have cost tens of thousands of dollars.

Without his evacuation insurance, he'd face huge financial obligations on top of his recovery.

Kriger said, “I shudder to think, I don't know what I would have done.”

He also said if it weren't for the care he later received at Baystate Medical Center the damage to his heart might not have been found.

He said, "I may not be here, I very well may not be here, it's actually kind of miraculous that I didn't die at the accident scene."