Hello Everyone,
The purpose of any trip, whether it is for a short vacation or months on the road, is to return with an inner sense of satisfaction for your time spent. Unfortunately, sometimes health issues occur which temporarily suspend this goal. The key is to know how to deal with these successfully.
A not so funny thing happened to me between taking off with our motorhome from Mesa on our way to exploring Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I ended up overnight with a TIA (pre stroke) in Cortez. It was followed two weeks later with another TIA and severe oxygen deprivation in Colorado Springs that landed me in the hospital and a rehab facility for a combined 11-day stay. Fortunately, I have recovered so we can continue our journey this summer.
Health problems can affect any traveler. To help eliminate stress when dealing with these issues, the following are eight tips we apply.
TIP # 1- BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Before you travel, be aware of environmental conditions that may affect your health. For example, due to the high elevations in Colorado, it is not the safest place for those with asthma or chronic bronchitis.
Patients with those conditions need to monitor their oxygen levels and take frequent breaks. For around $35, you can buy an Oxymeter which allows you to measure your oxygen and pulse statuses as they do in medical offices. These are available at drugstores.
One would suspect that the most hospitalizations of out-of-town patients in Colorado occur during the winter months because of such activities as skiing. Jennifer, a nurse at Advance Health Care, told me that is incorrect. It’s during the summer that rescue teams frequently haul patients off of places like Pikes Peak because the elevation causes severe oxygen problems.
In desert sections of the country, such as Phoenix, it is necessary to be wary of the conditions of heatstroke during the summer. Other locales with very high humidity may not be as hot but just as dangerous.
If you have a cell phone, get yourself a good weather app so you can keep an eye on external conditions. Many of these apps are available.
TIP # 2 - TAKE A FIRST AID KIT WITH YOU
You don’t need to buy an expensive kit but can easily make your own. Be sure to include the following in it:
First-aid manual
Sterile gauze pads of different sizes
Adhesive bandages and tape in several sizes
Band-Aids
Thermometer
Anti diarrhea medication
Antibiotic ointment
Anti allergy pills - Benedryl or something like it. Take it with you because you are unaware what you may be allergic to in a new environment.
Antiseptic wipes
Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen
Scissors and tweezers
Soap
Cold packs
Alcohol wipes
TIP # 3- TAKE BASIC MEDICAL RECORDS WITH YOU
Whether you are staying in motels or residing in your recreational vehicle, take some basic medical records with you. These should include, at a minimum, a list of your medications and one of your surgeries, recent hospitalizations, and medical conditions. Why? Because every doctor or hospital you may visit is going to have you provide this information. You won’t have to depend on recall which can be spotty when you aren’t feeling well.
It is also valuable to carry either a list of your doctors with their fax and phone numbers or their business cards. If you spend time at a physician’s office or hospital on the road, this makes it easy to have your records transferred for continuing care. I carry the business cards of every physician I use. A secondary reason is that it makes it possible for you to contact your own doctors if you have a medical question or need a prescription filled.
We take other medical records as well. We have copies of our most recent medical labs; records from hospitalizations, if any, for the current year; and copies of any special current testing such as x-rays or sleep studies. I have found talking to doctors while on the road that the more information and details they have, the better they like it. If their patients can provide this information, it often precludes having a reason to duplicate a test which saves money and time.
Keep a list of medications and copies of your insurance cards in a safe place. These should be accessible but not carried with you.
TIP # 4- TAKE COPIES OF PRESCRIPTIONS WITH YOU
Before you leave home, ask your physician for hand written copies of your prescriptions. That way you have them convenient if you run out of a medication during your trip. It allows you to choose from the drugstores where you are staying and have pills filled without playing telephone tag with your doctor.
If you are diabetic, make sure all information the pharmacy needs is written on the form. For example, if you use insulin which one, what are the exact number and names of the lancets and test strips you use, etc. Make sure prescriptions for all diabetic supplies are hand signed. Medicare is picky and you don’t want problems with filling prescriptions during your trip.
TIP # 5 - USE CONTACTS FOR NAMES OF PHYSICIANS
If you become ill in a town where you don’t know the medical facilities, asking your friends and family to provide names of physicians and hospitals can lead to positive results. They know whom they use and can often call their own doctor and see if they can have him or her see you promptly.
We followed this method in Colorado Springs. I asked my friends who manage Foot of the Rockies Campground for a pulmonologist, called their doctor, and had an appointment within weeks. In the case of a primary, my neighbors from Mesa, who reside in Colorado Springs during the summer, enabled me to have an appointment with their doctor within 72 hours.
If you don’t have friends in a town, several options exist. Ask the staff at the motel or campground where you are staying to provide the names of whom they use. Call the local hospital’s emergency room charge nurse for names. They often, though not always, know the names of the best doctors in a locale. These same methods can often lead to finding out what the best hospital is, though that can vary for different needs, and even where a laboratory is if you need blood testing while on the road.
TIP # 6 - SMALL HOSPITALS CAN BE USEFUL
Cortez, Colorado has a 21-bed hospital which is currently building another wing to double its size. It serves the county. The problem, however, with a tiny town’s hospital is not the size of the building but the accessibility of specialists and medical equipment.
While in the emergency room, the woman next to me had to be treated for a heart attack. The hospital was not equipped and a cardiologist was not nearby so she had to be helicopter flighted to a larger city that had a trauma unit. A neurologist, in my case, lived several hours away so even with a TIA, I was only treated by a hospitalist.
Nursing care overnight was excellent. In this small hospital, at no time did I hear anyone over the intercom say, “Can I help you?” Instead, if I pressed the nurse button, they came directly to the room promptly. At Colorado Springs’ Metropolitan Central Hospital, the opposite occurred. That is not to mean that nursing care is excellent in all small hospitals and less so in larger hospitals with more patients as it obviously depends on the facility and its management.
TIP # 7 - SELECTING REHAB CENTERS
One of the toughest tasks for a patient is to make sure that they go to an excellent rehab center after their care in a hospital. It becomes a pot luck situation if you are from out-of-town since you don’t have the time to check them out yourself.
If you are not familiar with a town, you need to speak to knowledgeable people. This is where a good social worker can earn their salary. Unfortunately, social workers aren’t always aware of which centers provide excellent nursing care, physical therapy, and the proper environment such as quality meals. Follow up by checking with friends to see what facility they or their associates have used.
Being part of an organization, doesn’t mean care in two different cities will be the same. In Mesa, Arizona, Advance Health Care is one of the Cadillac facilities. I had thought that the case would be the same with Advance Health Care in Colorado Springs and was severely disappointed.
For their 34-bed facility with 32 patients, they had one nurse to take care of everyone at night and on at least three of these evenings, they were from an agency. Of the six days I was their patient, I had physical therapy on only three of them. Patients arrived in the dining room and had to wait 45 minutes to an hour to be served. Waiting hours for pain medications after 4:00 p.m. was routine for me. Fortunately, they have hired a new director of nursing, but speaking to staff, it could take months before they overcome these problems.
TIP # 8 - OBTAIN MEDICAL RECORDS FROM FACILITIES YOU USE
Your doctors will want copies of medical procedures or hospitalizations you had while traveling. If you are admitted, inquire immediately about the procedure for obtaining a copy of your hospital and rehab center records so you can obtain continuing care. You will need to sign forms for your own copy as well as have your doctors faxed the results. Some hospitals charge for your own copy, even though it is your records, while others do not. While some hospital medical record offices allow for complete records to be sent to doctors, others only allow abridged versions.
If you are sent for outpatient radiology, see if you can obtain both a CD and the written record. This allows your physician to have whatever he needs. Often this information can be given to you when you leave the radiologist’s office.
When you see a physician while traveling, be sure to ask for any test results they have run. Sometimes you can obtain an office summary as well. It is wise to carry this on your trip in case you have further health problems. Most physicians’ offices will also fax the information to your doctors. This is another reason for having a list of your doctors or their business cards with you.
The key to having a successful trip is to avoid health problems. However, since they do occur, by knowing what to do, you can still have a wonderful time.
The purpose of any trip, whether it is for a short vacation or months on the road, is to return with an inner sense of satisfaction for your time spent. Unfortunately, sometimes health issues occur which temporarily suspend this goal. The key is to know how to deal with these successfully.
A not so funny thing happened to me between taking off with our motorhome from Mesa on our way to exploring Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. I ended up overnight with a TIA (pre stroke) in Cortez. It was followed two weeks later with another TIA and severe oxygen deprivation in Colorado Springs that landed me in the hospital and a rehab facility for a combined 11-day stay. Fortunately, I have recovered so we can continue our journey this summer.
Health problems can affect any traveler. To help eliminate stress when dealing with these issues, the following are eight tips we apply.
TIP # 1- BE AWARE OF YOUR ENVIRONMENT
Before you travel, be aware of environmental conditions that may affect your health. For example, due to the high elevations in Colorado, it is not the safest place for those with asthma or chronic bronchitis.
Patients with those conditions need to monitor their oxygen levels and take frequent breaks. For around $35, you can buy an Oxymeter which allows you to measure your oxygen and pulse statuses as they do in medical offices. These are available at drugstores.
One would suspect that the most hospitalizations of out-of-town patients in Colorado occur during the winter months because of such activities as skiing. Jennifer, a nurse at Advance Health Care, told me that is incorrect. It’s during the summer that rescue teams frequently haul patients off of places like Pikes Peak because the elevation causes severe oxygen problems.
In desert sections of the country, such as Phoenix, it is necessary to be wary of the conditions of heatstroke during the summer. Other locales with very high humidity may not be as hot but just as dangerous.
If you have a cell phone, get yourself a good weather app so you can keep an eye on external conditions. Many of these apps are available.
TIP # 2 - TAKE A FIRST AID KIT WITH YOU
You don’t need to buy an expensive kit but can easily make your own. Be sure to include the following in it:
First-aid manual
Sterile gauze pads of different sizes
Adhesive bandages and tape in several sizes
Band-Aids
Thermometer
Anti diarrhea medication
Antibiotic ointment
Anti allergy pills - Benedryl or something like it. Take it with you because you are unaware what you may be allergic to in a new environment.
Antiseptic wipes
Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen
Scissors and tweezers
Soap
Cold packs
Alcohol wipes
TIP # 3- TAKE BASIC MEDICAL RECORDS WITH YOU
Whether you are staying in motels or residing in your recreational vehicle, take some basic medical records with you. These should include, at a minimum, a list of your medications and one of your surgeries, recent hospitalizations, and medical conditions. Why? Because every doctor or hospital you may visit is going to have you provide this information. You won’t have to depend on recall which can be spotty when you aren’t feeling well.
It is also valuable to carry either a list of your doctors with their fax and phone numbers or their business cards. If you spend time at a physician’s office or hospital on the road, this makes it easy to have your records transferred for continuing care. I carry the business cards of every physician I use. A secondary reason is that it makes it possible for you to contact your own doctors if you have a medical question or need a prescription filled.
We take other medical records as well. We have copies of our most recent medical labs; records from hospitalizations, if any, for the current year; and copies of any special current testing such as x-rays or sleep studies. I have found talking to doctors while on the road that the more information and details they have, the better they like it. If their patients can provide this information, it often precludes having a reason to duplicate a test which saves money and time.
Keep a list of medications and copies of your insurance cards in a safe place. These should be accessible but not carried with you.
TIP # 4- TAKE COPIES OF PRESCRIPTIONS WITH YOU
Before you leave home, ask your physician for hand written copies of your prescriptions. That way you have them convenient if you run out of a medication during your trip. It allows you to choose from the drugstores where you are staying and have pills filled without playing telephone tag with your doctor.
If you are diabetic, make sure all information the pharmacy needs is written on the form. For example, if you use insulin which one, what are the exact number and names of the lancets and test strips you use, etc. Make sure prescriptions for all diabetic supplies are hand signed. Medicare is picky and you don’t want problems with filling prescriptions during your trip.
TIP # 5 - USE CONTACTS FOR NAMES OF PHYSICIANS
If you become ill in a town where you don’t know the medical facilities, asking your friends and family to provide names of physicians and hospitals can lead to positive results. They know whom they use and can often call their own doctor and see if they can have him or her see you promptly.
We followed this method in Colorado Springs. I asked my friends who manage Foot of the Rockies Campground for a pulmonologist, called their doctor, and had an appointment within weeks. In the case of a primary, my neighbors from Mesa, who reside in Colorado Springs during the summer, enabled me to have an appointment with their doctor within 72 hours.
If you don’t have friends in a town, several options exist. Ask the staff at the motel or campground where you are staying to provide the names of whom they use. Call the local hospital’s emergency room charge nurse for names. They often, though not always, know the names of the best doctors in a locale. These same methods can often lead to finding out what the best hospital is, though that can vary for different needs, and even where a laboratory is if you need blood testing while on the road.
TIP # 6 - SMALL HOSPITALS CAN BE USEFUL
Cortez, Colorado has a 21-bed hospital which is currently building another wing to double its size. It serves the county. The problem, however, with a tiny town’s hospital is not the size of the building but the accessibility of specialists and medical equipment.
While in the emergency room, the woman next to me had to be treated for a heart attack. The hospital was not equipped and a cardiologist was not nearby so she had to be helicopter flighted to a larger city that had a trauma unit. A neurologist, in my case, lived several hours away so even with a TIA, I was only treated by a hospitalist.
Nursing care overnight was excellent. In this small hospital, at no time did I hear anyone over the intercom say, “Can I help you?” Instead, if I pressed the nurse button, they came directly to the room promptly. At Colorado Springs’ Metropolitan Central Hospital, the opposite occurred. That is not to mean that nursing care is excellent in all small hospitals and less so in larger hospitals with more patients as it obviously depends on the facility and its management.
TIP # 7 - SELECTING REHAB CENTERS
One of the toughest tasks for a patient is to make sure that they go to an excellent rehab center after their care in a hospital. It becomes a pot luck situation if you are from out-of-town since you don’t have the time to check them out yourself.
If you are not familiar with a town, you need to speak to knowledgeable people. This is where a good social worker can earn their salary. Unfortunately, social workers aren’t always aware of which centers provide excellent nursing care, physical therapy, and the proper environment such as quality meals. Follow up by checking with friends to see what facility they or their associates have used.
Being part of an organization, doesn’t mean care in two different cities will be the same. In Mesa, Arizona, Advance Health Care is one of the Cadillac facilities. I had thought that the case would be the same with Advance Health Care in Colorado Springs and was severely disappointed.
For their 34-bed facility with 32 patients, they had one nurse to take care of everyone at night and on at least three of these evenings, they were from an agency. Of the six days I was their patient, I had physical therapy on only three of them. Patients arrived in the dining room and had to wait 45 minutes to an hour to be served. Waiting hours for pain medications after 4:00 p.m. was routine for me. Fortunately, they have hired a new director of nursing, but speaking to staff, it could take months before they overcome these problems.
TIP # 8 - OBTAIN MEDICAL RECORDS FROM FACILITIES YOU USE
Your doctors will want copies of medical procedures or hospitalizations you had while traveling. If you are admitted, inquire immediately about the procedure for obtaining a copy of your hospital and rehab center records so you can obtain continuing care. You will need to sign forms for your own copy as well as have your doctors faxed the results. Some hospitals charge for your own copy, even though it is your records, while others do not. While some hospital medical record offices allow for complete records to be sent to doctors, others only allow abridged versions.
If you are sent for outpatient radiology, see if you can obtain both a CD and the written record. This allows your physician to have whatever he needs. Often this information can be given to you when you leave the radiologist’s office.
When you see a physician while traveling, be sure to ask for any test results they have run. Sometimes you can obtain an office summary as well. It is wise to carry this on your trip in case you have further health problems. Most physicians’ offices will also fax the information to your doctors. This is another reason for having a list of your doctors or their business cards with you.
The key to having a successful trip is to avoid health problems. However, since they do occur, by knowing what to do, you can still have a wonderful time.