Medical

Medical & First Aid

With 5 kids, Cliff and I operate on the assumption that we will make at least one trip to the emergency room per year, which has proved to be a fairly accurate calculation over the last 15 years. With that in mind, what do we do about medical preparedness for the trip around the world? The hope is that we are prepared for all medical situations…everything from a bug bite to broken arm…and that we don’t need to use ANYTHING!

With that in mind, I embarked on 5 key projects:
1) Figuring out medical coverage while we are away
2) Figuring out travel/evacuation medical in case of a medical emergency
3) Shots
4) First Aid Kit
5) Getting everyone to the dentist and doctor for updated check ups before we leave

For medical coverage, Cliff and I are lucky in that we can opt into Cobra from our previous employers. Check! One thing on the list is figured out!

For evacuation coverage, we consulted the “Roaming Jones,”  (http://www.roamingjones.com/) our buddies who left with their 4 kids on a similar trip yesterday and therefore had to figure everything out before us. They told us about Global Rescue. http://www.globalrescue.com/ Thank you Roaming Jones! You guys are rock stars!!! Check! This one is figured out!

For shots, we enlisted the Travel Clinic at Rite-Aid in Bellevue. They are AWESOME! They looked at our itinerary and helped us figure out exactly what we needed. We haven’t been in to get the shots yet, but we are headed there tomorrow!

Getting everyone to the dentist and doctor was easy….everyone except Cliff who has been a big procrastinator because he will turn 50 on the trip around the world so you know what that means….colon cancer screening which is not fun. But good news is, he will get it over with and can enjoy his 50th, worry-free on the Great Wall of China

Me? I went through a battery of tests and ended up getting my gall bladder out because my doctor was worried I would have a gall bladder attack on a remote island off the coast of Africa….one less organ to worry about.

As for the first aid kit, I spent 2 hours at Rite-Aid with the pharmacist and several shopping lists I gathered from doctors, family (who is also doctors,) other families who have gone around the world as well as Cliff’s and my memories of past International trips. I tried to minimize what we will bring because you really CAN buy most things abroad. Here are the things I did decide we needed to have: antibiotic ointment, band-aids, steri-strips, moleskin, Visine, Benedryl, aspirin, Tylenol, Z-Paks for each person, an ace bandage, Claritin, sunblock and an EpiPen….we will probably never use some of it and run out of others but we can always enlist my parents to bring new supplies to Morocco