Nov 20, 2008 10:00 pm US/Mountain
Denver Parents File Lawsuit Vs. Ambassador Program
Written by CBS4 Special Projects producer Vicki Hildner
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Imagine a letter that invites you on a dream vacation. You might sign up before you ever read the fine print.
Your child may have received just such a letter from an organization called People to People Student Ambassador Programs. The letter invites your child to travel to some of the most exotic locations in the world.
But when we started asking some hard questions about this organization and these trips, we found two families, one with happy memories and the other still grieving for a child who died far from his home.
For 10-year-old Grace Buchanan, traveling with "People to People" was a life-changing trip.
"I learned that people can be different," says Grace as she looks at pictures from her trip. "Their culture is very unique from ours and you can learn a lot from it."
For Grace's mother Margaret it was not an easy decision to send her child on a three week trip to England and Scotland with People to People Student Ambassadors.
Months of meetings and all the preparation done by People to People reassured this Denver mother.
"There was a huge emphasis on safety, what exactly was going to happen from day to day, how it was going to happen, and what happens if there is a medical emergency."
Tyler Hill's family also believed their 16-year-old son was in safe hands when he traveled to Japan with People to People during the summer of 2007.
Now, the Hills have filed suit against People to People. In their suit they say they made it clear before the trip that Tyler had Type I diabetes. The Hills say after Tyler climbed Mt. Fuji, he told tour leaders he felt "severely ill" and needed to go to a "hospital."
According to the suit, the trip leaders "denied" his request. Tyler spent the night in his hotel room.
According to his mother, Sheryl Hill, "Tyler started vomiting blood at 4 in the morning and he was vomiting blood until 7 in the morning."
In their suit, Tyler's parents say four leaders were "in Tyler's room at approximately 7 a.m." Tyler was "left alone in a hotel room without medical care." Ten hours later, he was taken by ambulance to a Japanese hospital where he died.
"We were not called," says Tyler's mother, tearfully, "until Tyler's heart had been stopped for more than an hour."
People to people Student Ambassador Programs did not respond to our request for a comment, but did talk to a television station in Spokane, Wash. In that interview, People to People's CEO, Jeff Thomas, said "People to People is deeply saddened by the loss of Tyler Hill. Our entire organization continues to grieve for the events that happened."
Thomas's wife, Peg, who is president of the company, added "Our review of that incident does not match the allegations in the lawsuit brought by the Hill family."
More than one organization uses the name People to People:
-- People to People International ia a non-profit organization in Missouri dedicated to promoting peace through understanding.
-- People to People Ambassador Programs is a for-profit tour company based in Spokane. It sells tours ranging in price from $5,000 to $10,000.
We asked the non-profit how it is connect to the for-profit company. Their attorney did not respond to our written questions.
Initially, Tyler was thrilled when he got a letter saying he had been "invited to travel ... named for the honor by a teacher, former Student Ambassador or national academic listing."
Since Tyler's death, the Hills have learned that the Florida Attorney General investigated People to People after Katherine Beil received the same letter.
The Attorney General learned that Beil had died 18 years earlier, shortly after she was born. When her parents receieved the letter, they complained to the Florida state Attorney General and to People to People. A year later, the family received a second invitation.
The Florida Attorney General concluded that "the company had purchased a list of names from a data provider." In other words, People to People Ambassador Programs bought a mailing list and used it to issue "invitations" for this "honor" to "eligible" students.
"Parents have the right to now how this company is operating," says Sheryl Hill.
Her grief-stricken husband Allan added, "We want this organization to take responsibility for Tyler's death."
The Hills have devoted a Web site to their son's memory, in the hopes that they can make other parents more aware that the "trip of a lifetime" can end with a child's death.
Additional Resources
To read more about his story, go to
tylerhill.org
(© MMIX CBS Television Stations, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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