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Don’t let the fear of a medical emergency while traveling stop you from traveling. Prepare for an emergency or even a small health-related inconvenience and then begin packing your bag. You can fall sick, experience a minor injury, or have an accident anywhere in the world. It’s just easier if a medical emergency happens at home because you have quick and easy access to care at home.  Don’t let potential illness, injury or the thought of a medical emergency stop you from traveling. You just need to have a few contingency plans in place to deal with any illness or injury while you’re traveling. Here’s what you can do in advance of your trip for peace of mind.

How to Prepare for a Medical Emergency While Traveling
The simple preparations for a medical emergency abroad

  1. Always carry your ID, a credit card, and some cash Always have these essential items on you, even if you’re just going out for a walk or a quick trip. I ‘d add to that list your phone. As for your phone, you should have photos of various other health-related documents that could come in handy during a medical emergency. Have photos of your prescriptions, vaccination records and any information regarding implanted devices that may help you in case of a medical emergency. Plus having your phone makes it easier to communicate with travel companions or loved ones. This is where a travel money belt, anti-theft bag or waist pack comes in handy to carry your essentials.cash and cards help prepare for medical emergencies
  2. Pack a small first aid kit to deal with blisters, cuts,  and bug bites. Keep it in your day bag so you have it handy when you most likely need it. If you don’t want to make a kit from scratch you find some travel first aid kits here.  A few basic items you should consider for your emergency kits are band-aids in various sizes, an antiseptic cream like Neosporin, or anti-bug spray depending on your destination.First Aid kit for medical emergencies
  3. Pack over the counter medications in travel sizes so they don’t take up a lot of room in your bag. Anti-diarrhea, allergy meds and pain relievers, soothing eye drops and anti-itch remedies are the most common drugs you’ll need. Don’t wait to buy them in your destination country. They could be difficult to find in travel sizes and costlier too.
  4.  Bring a copy of any prescriptions you take and snap a photo of your prescription bottles in case of loss. Have a copy of your medical insurance card too.
  5. Know how to say you have a food/drug allergy or a medical condition in the language of your destination  Be sure you and your travel companion(s) know how to say you have an allergy in the language of the country you’re visiting. Have it written down or keep it handy on your phone if you can’t remember how to say it. Using your screenshot function or having a photo stored on your phone for this is extremely useful. Telling a waiter about a food allergy or a doctor about an allergy or implanted medical device could be life-saving.
  6. Local doctors or clinics are a good option for minor medical emergencies  Injuries like a sprain or an illness like the flu, seek out the help of a local doctor or clinic. Your hotel or a pharmacy clerk can help you find one. Use google translate to help describe symptoms if there is a language barrier.Minor medical emergency while traveling
  7. Check to see if the credit card you are traveling with provides any travel insurance benefits. Ask for a limit increase on your card before you leave on your trip. The increase could come in handy to cover emergency medical costs.
  8. Know what hospital to go to  If you think it is something worse or life-threatening get to a hospital immediately. Car accidents, heart attacks, strokes, gallbladder attacks can happen anywhere. Research prior to your trip which hospitals in the areas you are visiting cooperate with your insurance. If you haven’t done that ahead of time contact the US embassy. They can assist with wire transfers to pay for services, arranging airlifts if necessary and help with finding the medical care you may need. When our son went on a study abroad program, we made sure that he, the in-country program manager, and his host family knew of his peanut allergy and which of the 3 hospitals in the city he should be taken to for any medical emergency as dictated by his travel health insurance. Knowing where he would go in case of a medical emergency gave us peace of mind.
  9. Purchase travel insurance before you go. It’s worth it. Insurance coverage can vary by company so read the policy and talk with a company representative before selecting a travel insurance policy that will meet your needs. The travel insurance company may also have a preferred hospital or clinic in your destination, be sure to ask about it. If you have a significant underlying health condition or are uncomfortable about treatment for certain injuries or health issues ask the insurance provider about medical evacuation. Keep the information on your phone and keep it with your travel docs. Make sure your travel companions know where information is in addition to someone at home.
  10. Travel Insurance for medical emergencies
  11. Be prepared for medical emergencies – are your vaccinations up to date? If you hurt yourself you may be asked about tetanus. If you travel to areas where certain diseases not normally found in the US you may be asked about vaccinations for those too. This is a great transition to the next point for being prepared for a medical emergency while traveling.
  12. Visit a travel health doctor before you depart Do research about your intended destination at the CDC.gov. website. If you’re going to a location identified as having or prone to Zika, Malaria or Ebola Hepatitis outbreaks seek out a travel doctor to get the proper immunizations and advice for your destination.

Hopefully, you won’t need to take advantage of any of your medical emergency preparation. However, if you do experience a medical emergency while traveling you’ll be better off and less panicked that you did prepare.

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What is the difference between a travel medicine physician and a general practitioner?

While your regular doctor may have knowledge about what diseases you may encounter when you travel, healthcare professionals at travel clinics are specifically educated on the many various health problems you may encounter around the world. Travel clinics specialize in vaccinations for Meningitis, Polio, Typhoid, and Yellow Fever to name only a few plus medications for diarrhea, malaria, tuberculosis and more. The decision to vaccinate in some cases needs to be weighed versus the risks of the vaccination. That is where the value of a travel medicine doctor comes into play.

If you’re visiting somewhere tropical, subtropical or if you have any chronic health condition such as diabetes or kidney disease, a trip to a travel clinic could provide life-saving recommendations that your general practitioner may not be aware of. Beyond medical concerns, the clinic may also counsel on precautions regarding food, beverages, insect bites, and even pickpockets. They can also clarify which over the counter medicines to pack are best according to your destination.  Of course, all this good advice depends on the doctor and clinic you visit. Lastly, depending on your health insurance a trip to a travel medicine doctor is often covered.

To underscore the issue regarding the decision to vaccinate, here’s an enlighting article by Julian Klapowitz, MD illustrating how and why a doctor skilled in travel medicine could be a good health care partner to seek out when it comes to understanding recommended vs. required vaccinations.

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Should Overseas Travelers Get a Yellow Fever Vaccination?
The Benefit vs. The Risk

Julian Klapowitz, MD

Internal Medicine and Travel Medicine

www.travelsurenyc.com

Professor Martin Gore, a leading UK cancer scientist, died on January 10th, reportedly as a result of a Yellow Fever vaccination he had received.

Unfortunately, all vaccinations may have life-threatening side effects. Severe allergic reactions/death can rarely occur after all shots. In our NYC travel vaccination clinic, we review these risks verbally and with VIS’s.

The issue with the Yellow Fever vaccine, in particular, is that:

  1. A) It can also cause severe neurologic and multi-organ side-effects (in addition to allergic reactions).
  2. B) The actual risk of getting yellow fever disease during travel is not always easy to determine and is sometimes not much higher than the risk of the vaccination.

The Disease: Yellow Fever is a potentially life-threatening mosquito-borne viral illness. An estimated 15% of people infected with Yellow Fever will develop severe illness and up to about half of those people die of complications. The vaccination is nearly 100% effective at protecting against the disease.

The Risk of Getting the Disease: Generally, in West Africa, 50 per 100,000 travelers having a 2-week stay will develop severe illness and, for South America, it is 5 per 100,000. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2018). The risk varies significantly, though, with the specific location, length of trip, activities during the trip, and whether or not there is an outbreak of the disease.

The Risk of the Shot: The risk of the severe/life-threatening side effects from the vaccine is approximately 1.1 per 100,000 people vaccinated for age under 60 and 3.4 per 100,000 in ≥60 (Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, 2018).

So, if the risk of the disease is very low (for instance, traveling to a country in S. America for a few days where Yellow Fever is present at low levels), the risk of the vaccine is close to the risk of getting the disease, particularly if a traveler is older.

Other factors that need to be taken under consideration: a traveler’s health, what medications they take (immune suppressants), and whether or not the Yellow Fever vaccination is REQUIRED for the trip (as opposed to RECOMMENDED…I will address this subject in a later post).

Bottom line: The Yellow Fever shot, and all other vaccinations, carry risk. Thoroughly reviewing what is needed on your trip with a Travel Health Care Professional will not eliminate that risk, but it will help ensure you are getting only the shots you need. As with Yellow Fever, in particular, the decision to vaccinate for travel is not as simple as it may sometimes seem.

Doctor Klapowitz has more interesting and important information you can find here:

www.travelsurenyc.com