Why Medical Evacuation Coverage is Necessary for Cruise Trips?

While planning your next vacation keep in mind that emergencies can occur anywhere. And when thousands of miles away from land, evacuation may be the only viable option for you.

Whenever you plan your vacation for a cruise, you never really consider the potential medical emergencies or other incidents that may threaten to sour your trip. These emergencies occur a lot more than you think. And once they do, the process of treating or evacuating a person becomes a complex and nobody wants to get involved with the different laws of evacuation from the sea etc.

Add to that the amount of expertise or training; it would take for crews and staff of the ship to coordinate with services that help in the medical evacuation process. Therefore, the process itself becomes financially exhaustive and may end up ruining your vacation in more ways than one. You may have heard stories about the Coastguard making these rescue trips, but they are unlikely to show up after your cruise has gone further than particular distance from the shore.

There are additional facts you may not be aware of. One of these is that the cruise captain or the crew are not obligated to transfer you to shore in case of health problems – no matter how bad they are. If there are medical services available they will be from independent contractors who may charge you anything and end up costing you a small fortune. The ship’s doctor is the ultimate boss, so if he asks you to go, you have to without having a say in it.

While ships are equipped with basic supplies to handle minor ailments, or illnesses, something as serious as rampant heart condition is no child’s play, and in the event of such a situation arising evacuation becomes the only solution.

No cruise “Protection Plans” will ever cover you for evacuation, and therefore it is essential you have a health insurance scheme with ample coverage for evacuation, to ensure your vacations do not end in disasters. 

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Medical Repatriation- Meaning and Significance

In situations where a person, suffers from an injury or illness, outside his native country that person can be entitled to medical repatriation. This is a service provided by the medical escort companies that assists patients in returning to their country of citizenship.

A medical evacuation is generally carried out in cases of a medical emergency where treatment is not readily available. Under this, you will be transported to the nearest medical facility, within or outside the country, either via an air ambulance, commercial flight or an ambulance, according to the feasibility.

Medical Repatriations on the other hand, is performed exactly under the same conditions as the medical evacuations, but it provides you the freedom of getting treated in your home country – in a known environment, with family and friends.

Can Be Availed In The Remotest Of Locations

When availing Repatriation services, air ambulance services can pick the patients from the remotest of locations, even where other medical facilities are not approachable! Traveler patients can benefit as they get access to the much needed medical facilities – on time.

Repatriation Services For All Types Of Cases

Medical Repatriation services can be provided for all types of cases - from critically ill, to burn trauma cases to accidental injuries, etc. In addition, the staff of medical repatriation services can even coordinate between embassies and medical consultants in case of severe medical emergencies. This helps the family and friends of the patients to concentrate on the wellbeing of the patient and not stress about other formalities.

Deliver Excellent Medical Assistance

The Medical Repatriation services are known for delivering efficient medical care to patients abroad. These services are an important function of providing quality health care 24/7 – saving the lives of many patients. 

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Medical Repatriation Services from SentinelMED

SentinelMED will now be providing long distance repatriation services to domestic and international patients.

Patients looking for better medical travel services stand to benefit the services of a travel medical assistance company like SentinelMED. This will especially benefit those patients whose insurance cover is not valid outside the United States.

Let’s look at these services in details –

1.Help in Foreign Land

While travelling abroad if you meet with an accident and need medical aid, SentinelMed will be able to provide transportation for you to return home.

2.Years Of Expertise

The boards of directors of SentileMed have over two decades of experience, in medical travel facilities. They have extensive experience in civil and military aviation and have a hands on approach to all situations.

3.New Repatriation Wing

The company has launched an independent Repartition wing. It will solely focus on the needs of US citizens who are looking to travel outside the country for better medical treatment.

4.Multilingual Support Staff

The team at SentinelMED is multilingual and can provide superior care and assistance to patients. They can take care of all travel arrangements for the patient, custom designed to serve his needs.

5.Highly Experienced Team

Medical repartition is a step by process that involves lost of complex stages. The team at SentinelMED has been handling tough conditions for many years and is highly skilled to execute every mission successfully. The team of commercial flight medical escorts is fully trained to handle any kind of situation and take decisions swiftly.

6.Top reviews

The customer satisfaction level at SentinelMED is very high. Most customers have gone home with a satisfying experience to narrate to their friends and family. The company has a solid reputation when it comes to giving sound medical advice, assistance in travel. Their bed to bed gets great reviews from all the patients who have availed it. 

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Travel Through Sea or Air: Health Advice For Medical Patients

How well your health fares during travel is largely dependent upon the type of travel medical assistance you choose. In some cases non-emergency medical transportation will suit perfectly well, but in other more serious cases, patients might need help of emergency medical travel or air ambulance services.

The popular expression “precaution is better than cure” holds good when we talk about medical travel. Travelling can have varying effects on a patient, and thus choosing the right mode of transportation becomes critical.

Here’s some tips on how to go about selecting medical transportation assistance and the several options you have.

Non Emergency Medical Transportation In Ship   

Transmission of infections or diseases can be common especially while travelling via ship because of moderate temperature and favorable conditions for microbial growth. However, some countries do have specialized standards and sanitation guidelines which must be adhered. Choose to go with reputed travel medical assistance company and make sure to take approval from your doctor before undertaking a journey.     

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Airlines

Dissimilar to ship voyages, transportation through airlines can be associated with several health concerns and a few from them are as:

Reduced oxygen levels

As the plane climbs into higher altitudes, the cabins inside develop high pressure and the supply oxygen reduces. A patient’s body will respond to these atmospheric changes differently, and also need special care to not let this have a negative impact on the patient’s health. It is generally advised that patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or other heart related problems should avoid traveling through airlines.

Health concerns like ear and sinus symptoms are common with air transportation, which are caused by change in air pressure and can cause severe headache and hearing problems. Some other common health concerns while traveling through airlines is blood clotting, motion sickness and jet lags.   

Choose wisely between the two options and make sure to take doctor approval in both cases. 

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