Healthy travel reminders

With summer comes summer travel.

As you prepare to hit the road (or sky) this summer, there are a few things you don’t want to forget.

While vacation packing checklists usually include things like swimsuits and sunscreen, people don’t always remember items to ensure their health care needs are vacation-ready.

“When people go on vacation, they tend to focus on things like reserving hotels and packing clothes,” Dr. Jonathan Scheff, chief medical officer for Health Net, said in a news release.

“That’s why Health Net is encouraging people, before they zip up their suitcases, to take a health care inventory of sorts,” he said.

Health Net offers these helpful reminders:

Before you go …

-Medications – Be sure to bring enough prescription medications, as well as any over-the-counter products used, to last your entire trip.

-Immunizations – If traveling abroad, particularly to an underdeveloped country, be sure that you’re adequately immunized against any infectious diseases you might encounter.

-Benefit coverage – Review your certificate of insurance to become familiar with your benefit coverage.

-Scout providers – It’s wise to determine if there’s an urgent care center, emergency room and pharmacy near your vacation destination that will be covered by your insurance.

-Download the app – Many health plans offer apps that can be download for free on smart phones and other web-enabled devices.

Don’t forget to pack …

-Health coverage/membership ID card.

-First-aid kit.

-Health profile – It’s smart to take a personal health record summary with you that lists: name; age; birthday; allergies; last tetanus shot; primary doctor/phone number and medical group name/phone number.

-Emergency contacts – Bring the names and phone numbers of at least two emergency contacts.

-Consent-to-treat form – If you have children who are staying home, leave a signed consent-to-treat form with their caretaker.

And with that, I’m off for a two-week vacation!