RVers May Now Carry Medical Records In Their Pockets

You’re out relaxing under your RV awning when you notice your neighbor fall to the ground unconscious. You call 911 and the ambulance is on the way. Fortunately for your neighbor he has the “EZ Med Traveler” USB thumb drive keychain containing all his medical information. This is Tammy Porter an area representative for “EZ Med traveler”. She says this information is in Microsoft Word format and you can include prescriptions, drug allergies, medical history, insurance, vaccines and more. You can take this to you imaging facility and they can download your X-rays, and imaging information as well. The brochure states that more than 12,000 people died last year because of lack of information for emergency personnel. Some 47,000 people died because of drug interactions that could have been avoided had emergency personnel been informed. You have to fill in the information yourself using an easy fill-in-the-blank form. The cost is $34.95 plus $4.95 S/H. You may retrieve more information at the website here: EZ Med Traveler. Many health care professionals including emergency response personnel know about these keychain medical records so even if you are in an accident and unconscious they can still retrieve your medical information. Is this a great idea or what? Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing

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

RVers Have the Power to Save Lives With This Device

Many RVers are over 50 years old and are susceptible to Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). As one of the leading causes of death in the United States SCA kills 340,000 people each year. In fact SCA kills more people each year than breast cancer, prostrate cancer, house fires, hand guns, traffic accidents and AIDS combined. Your chance of survival without the rapid application of a defibrillator is less than 5%. The Heart Start defibrillator delivers the necessary electric shock to restart the heart. Ron Fonstad was demonstrating this unit at the Quartzsite RV show this week. You may contact him at (951) 265-6272 for more information about this machine. My oldest son is an EMT certified fireman and a strong advocate of these machines. They will save lives and are simple to use. Just pull the pads off the machine and a voice from the machine will tell you what to do. Follow the directions and you can save a life even if you don’t know how to put on a bandage. Watch this video to give you a better understanding of how these amazing lifesaving machines work. These small portable units will fit just about anywhere in your RV and sell for $1,559 plus tax and shipping. This machine, made by Philips, is the number one selling portable defibrillator in the world and the only one available without a prescription.

Sparking your thinking everyday - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing

Pill Organizers for the RV Lifestyle

As I wrote in my previous post, I like to use the showers at RV parks and campgrounds. Part of my morning routine is to take my medications and vitamins. I take so many that I need to keep them organized. I picked up a couple of the “day-of-the-week” plastic pill organizers at the drugstore for this purpose. One of the side benefits of these pill organizers is that they remind you what day it is. It’s a well known fact that retired folk frequently loose track of what day it is. We can tell you what time it is, but the date on our watches (if we wear one at all) is so small we can’t read it, so the plastic pill organizers come in handy this way. As functional as they are, pill organizers are not without problems. I would put them in my shower tote and dutifully take my medicine as part of my morning ritual. Unfortunately, these neat little plastic pill organizers would come open spilling the contents in my shower tote. I corralled them into a larger plastic storage container and eliminated the spillage problem. Do you have a novel way of organizing your pills you’d like to share with us? If you do, please leave us a note in the light blue “comments” section below. Helping keep you organized in a healthy way - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing

Tips for Camping in a Hospital Parking Lot

Many hospitals have designated RV parking. In fact, many hospitals have hook-ups that patients and family members can use for free. Here is an example of one such hospital. This RV parking area was an afterthought so they worked it into an existing parking area. It only has electric and water but a sewer pumping service is available for a fee. These RV facilities are often found at hospitals that have long term treatment programs like cancer treatment and guarded pregnancy (requiring the mom to be in hospital care to bring the baby to full term). Hotel costs are often prohibitive for people in these situations which is why the RV solution is a great alternative. Patients and family members can live on the hospital campus in the comfort of their own RV. If you need to use one of these facilities make sure you check in with the administrative office. These spaces are usually on a first come first served basis and require some connection with a patient in the care of the hospital. I’ve used hospital RV facilities several times in conjunction with the care of family members and it is very convenient. A fixed income cancer treatment patient told me that she didn’t know what she would do if it were not for the RV parking available at the hospital. She counted it a great blessing to be able to stay there for free while undergoing treatment. If the hospital RV parking is full or they don’t have RV hook-ups you may still be able to park your self contained RV in the out-back hospital parking lot. Check with the hospital administration office or the security office to get permission to do this. Helping you stretch your dollars - Jim Twamley, Professor of RVing

Camp At WalMart And Get A Medical Check-Up At The Same Time

WalMart plans to open 400 medical clinic kiosks in their stores over the next three years. This number will increase to over 2000 in the next five to seven years according to a news release by WalMart yesterday. They've already been experimenting with this at a few stores in Colorado and elsewhere. For around $60 bucks you’ll be able to see a Nurse Practitioner on a walk-in basis and have your medical needs taken care of. A Nurse Practitioner is qualified to do medical diagnosis, write prescriptions and refer you to specialist medical care when necessary. So now you can camp out, have a medical exam and get your prescriptions filled all in the same day. Sweet!