Less than a month ago my husband John unexpectedly died in his sleep from a heart attack. It was a tremendous shock. The first thing I did was call on two of his friends from the Cuenca Wayfair Lodge of the Grand Lodge of Ecuador and they came over within minutes to assist. They immediately called the police and Maurice Miranda, my representative at Confiamed health insurance. That same day, we were able to complete an autopsy to establish the cause of death which was necessary since he died at home and perform the cremation. Confiamed insurance paid for the cremation and transportation without any problem. The second day, his friends assisted me in obtaining the death certificate.
That was just the beginning. The third day, I contacted our lawyer and also had the good sense to email Jodi Mansfield at Visa Angels. I asked both of them if they knew of someone that could help me get the death certificate notarized and complete the process for the US Consulate and Social Security. I was still an emotional wreck and in my state the process seemed daunting, but I was relieved when the lawyer and Jodie from Visa Angels both recommended the same person, Giovanny Vallejo, who incidentally turned out to be an absolute angel. Right away, this young man picked me up and drove me to Azuay to apostille the death certificate. This also turned out to be a multistep process that required appointments and several extra stops but luckily Gio had already established a professional relationship with staff at several of the offices, allowing us to get everything done in one day without prior appointments.
Next, we contacted the US Consulate to ask what else was needed to complete the official death notification so that they could contact Social Security in the US. This process required forms and documents to be returned by email in PDF form which I was able to complete from home. The next week, I mentioned to Gio that all of this happened when I was working on a Confiamed reimbursement for my wrist surgery in October. Once again Gio took the lead, he met me at Santa Ines and we went to all the necessary offices for signatures and to pick up the check from Confiamed. Just another reason I’m so appreciative of him and Jodi Mansfield’s quick and kind response referring me to him.
I would not have been able to get all of this done on my own, Gio was the one keeping everything moving along. Giovanny Vallejo is a wonderful and professional young man. His English is perfect and he knew how to complete all of the necessary steps in this very complex process. I’m also quite sure that none of this would have gone so smoothly if it wasn’t for Gio’s genuine respectful manner while dealing with all of the people involved. Thank you Visa Angels.
Address: Visa Angels – contact by email
Contact information: jodiemansfield@gmail.com
Recommended by Beatrice Fulton: 096 790 0367
