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BALANCING THE EMOTIONAL, INTELLECTUAL, OCCUPATIONAL, SOCIAL & PHYSICAL COMPONENTS OF HEALTH
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Emergency Care Away From Home

Peace of Mind While Traveling

If you're traveling during the holidays, find out how you can protect your health while you're away from home. Knowing your health care options at your destination can give you peace, save you time, and avoid confusion when it comes to possible emergencies. Your Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) health plan generally requires that you use providers within their network, although some health plans have agreements with health providers across the U.S. that allow you to get medical care and remain within their network. Your usual copays, coinsurance, or deductibles will apply. What follows are some things that you can do to prepare for travel.

Know Before You Go

  1. Know how to access your health care benefits while you're away from home:
  2. When traveling, be sure to pack your health plan’s toll free customer service phone number and your subscriber or member ID number (if you have one).
  3. Pack your family's medications, especially medications—which may be difficult to get away from home. If traveling by air, leave medications in the original bottles.
  4. If you have allergies, reactions to certain medications, foods, or insect bites, or other special medical problems, consider wearing a medical alert bracelet.

UW Pre-travel Health Services

Both the Travel Clinic at Hall Health and the Travel Medicine Service at UW Medical Center provide pre-travel services. Check their web sites for more information.

Global Health, Safety & Security

The UW provides faculty, staff and student employees travel assistance through International SOS while traveling abroad on university business. For more information about this assistance program, see the Global Travel & Insurance site.

Before traveling, the UW traveler should print the International SOS membership card and carry it while abroad. Learn more.

During an Emergency

If you or family members require immediate medical attention due to illness or injury while you're traveling, you should go to the nearest hospital emergency room. If you go to a non-network facility, you must contact your provider within 24 hours or as soon as is reasonably possible after the emergency.

Resources:

Hall Health Travel Clinic offers pre-travel counseling, immunizations, and health advice for adults and children who are planning to travel out of the U.S. or Canada. Learn more.

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Travel tips from Health Matters @ Work, our wellness partner