OUCH ! Vaccinations, Pills, and Travel Clinics

A trip to Africa is exciting, with the prospect of going to a country few others get an opportunity to visit. Everyone wishes you well and you get pumped at the thought of embarking on your new adventure.

On the REALITY side of things, like everything, there is a bit of housekeeping to take care of. A trip to the Travel Clinic is on the 'to-do' list where your trek (along with it's incoming and outgoing flight plan) is analyzed for risk  of diseases and other nasty issues.

We had an excellent consult with travel nurses at the Dartmouth Travel Clinic, a branch of the Capital Health medical system. They are up to date on any travel advisories that travellers should be aware of, high-risk countries subject to disease and general health and wellness.  Have YOU had your all your shots?

For this trip the following were recommended:

• MMR: mumps | measles | rubella vaccine - Luckily I'm old enough that I dodged that bullet 
• Polio (shot) - Had to get it
• Typhoid (pills) - Taking them now - four pills taken every other day for eight days
• Yellow Fever (shot) - Have to get it !
• Malaria Prevention - Got my prescription
• Altitude Illness prevention - Got my prescription
• Cholera...Diarrhoea...Crap Stuff - Got my prescription in the fridge

Pill Anyone?

Now, I give the travel clinic full marks for customer service, attention to my needs and subject knowledge. What is a piss-off is the manner in which the medical system and insurance companies don't support the well-being of the traveller. ALL of the drugs mentioned are covered by my workplace health plan but since they are administered by LICENSED HEALTH CARE workers but in a clinic environment (I did mention that Capital Health is a key cog in the Nova Scotia health care system) I pay out of pocket for many of them. That does not make sense and needs to change!

So the flip side is my body is prepped for whatever Africa wants to throw at me and should I ever be crazy enough to try anything like this in the future  <I'M GOOD TO GO>