Traveling with Medical Supplies!
One of the reasons I became a travel advisor is that I love helping people by sharing my knowledge. I’m most passionate about organizing the details involved with planning vacations while providing unique and personal experiences for clients during their trips. I focus on getting to know people, their travel styles, goals for vacationing, and budgets. My role is to provide assistance to make travel enjoyable for everyone.
Certain types of medical equipment, medications, and accessibility concerns are often seen as obstacles to traveling. For over 20 years, I have been helping my three daughters fly around the country for medical specialists. Their accessibility needs, medication requirements, and critical routines have never deterred our family from traveling both for pleasure and for necessity. I know firsthand what it takes to get through the TSA screening when you have an implanted medical device, or travel with 14,000 liters of IV fluids, needles, and medications. I also have extensive experience with food allergies and intolerances and how to manage those when away from home.
Here are some of my tips for flying with just a few of these accessibility concerns:
Work with your treating physician and other providers to come up with a plan for managing issues. Over the years, our infusion care team has helped us tremendously and encouraged travel.
Check with the travel dot gov site for any health related requirements you may need prior to departing the US. While you are there, make sure you are up to date with your passport and visa requirements for the destination.
Contact TSA cares to ask what kind of specific documentation you might need regarding your situation. For example, I have a letter from the prescribing doctor about the liquids we bring on board, as well as medical cards for my spinal cord stimulator, and the girls’ central lines. Although I have never needed to show any of the documentation, I have heard from people who have been required to show proof. Be prepared that you may need a hand wand type of exam if your medical devices alert the scanner.
Reach out to the airline about items you’ll be bringing on board and to ask about pre-boarding options. Two of my kids are anaphylactic to nuts (anaphylaxis in an airport is not fun- ask me how I know), so we pre-board to wipe down all surfaces that the kids will touch. I go into the aisle where we’ll be sitting, pull out the Wet Ones wipes, and get to work while the kids stand in the aisle in front of me (towards the front of the plane). It’s sort of a speed-cleaning, circus process, but no one has reacted while flying (knock on wood).
On the note of bringing medical supplies on board, after a million flights and feeling annoyed at having to explain the extra luggage we bring on board (medical luggage has different rules), I have come up with a routine that works most of the time.
I printed luggage tags and giant red luggage labels that clearly state the contents as being medical. As I walk onto the plane, I greet the flight attendants, and tell them that my extra bags are all full of my daughter’s fragile life saving medical supplies that cannot be checked. I ask if they need to see them, and then ask if I can proceed. This has worked all but one time. That one time is a story for another day. It was pretty embarrassing being treated rudely. 99% of the time, the flight crew has been understanding, as long as they know I’m not just trying to sneak on extra bags.
My last tip involves travel insurance. If you have any kind of preexisting condition, make sure you purchase travel insurance when you first put any money towards the trip. You can always update the policy as your trip details solidify. Can you still add trip insurance even if you paid for everything months ago? Yes! The coverage terms are different, but so many things are still covered, and I always recommend protecting your investment. I can help with travel insurance options. Just ask :).
I could write for days about my experiences traveling with medical needs, but I will save the rest of the information for future newsletters. As always, let me know if I can help you with an upcoming vacation.