What is Your Medical RVing Plan

Monday I went in for my annual physical exam while RVing down in Arizona. The doctor asked me about my RV lifestyle and discovered I wrote articles for RVers. He suggested that I write an article about RVing with a medical plan. He told me that many RVers plan for everything else like getting their mail on the road, but they fail to make a medical plan for their RVing adventures. He suggests that if you are going to be away from home for any length of time you should make provisions with your primary care physician to have enough medication while you travel. He says he sees many snowbirds who come in for prescriptions because they didn't think about it before they left home. If you're a full time RVer it's critical that you have a medical plan. We receive medical care all over the country as need arises, but we still maintain a relationship with our primary care physician in Oregon. We get our prescriptions in a three month supply through a mail order pharmacy. We either have it sent general delivery to a post office where we'll be or we have it delivered to our mail forwarding service. Either way, we plan well in advance so we don't run out of medication on the road. Another good idea is to have all your important medical information with you in a file. Things like your physician's name, address and phone number, medical insurance cards and a list of prescriptions you take. Full timers should have a duplicate medical file with them and each time they are seen by a different physician, ask for a copy of the record to include in their portable medical record. Even RVers who travel only on the weekends should have extra medicine and basic medical information handy in case of emergency. Access to medical care while traveling is important so help yourself by being prepared. Giving you a check-up on your RV medical readiness - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing