Travel Health
Whether by train or plane or car, millions of Americans are poised to take off on vacations. And for those traveling a long way from home, there’s the nagging worry, “What if I get sick?”
The vacation of our dreams. . . unparalleled beauty — and an escape from our lives back home.
But the reality of health care in many of those idyllic spots is enough to make a grown man scared.
Holt is a traveler. “Scary in that they don’t have medical facilities like we do here, so actually I have insurance that flies me out.”
As an executive, Holt travels the globe. He’s about to fly to west Africa, where hepatitis and malaria are commonplace. So he’s getting a battery of immunizations well ahead of time.
Elsa is a travel nurse. “It’s the people who do not come to us that I worry about — that travel, that don’t know that there may be a resistant malaria in the country they’re going to, or they’re very careless about what they eat and drink.”
If you don’t want to fill up half your suitcase, get sample sizes of protection including anti-diarrhea medicines, motion sickness pills and pain relief medicine such as aspirin.
A couple of other tips. If you’re taking a prescription, take along twice as much as needed. Keep half with you, half in your suitcase. And with food — if you didn’t see it boiled or it’s not well-done, don’t eat it.
