Emergency Care Away From Home

Peace of Mind While Traveling

If you're traveling this summer, find out how you can protect your health while you're away from home. Knowing your health care options at your destination can give you peace, save you time, and avoid confusion when it comes to possible emergencies. Your Public Employees Benefits Board (PEBB) health plan generally requires that you use providers within their network, although some health plans have agreements with health providers across the U.S. that allow you to get medical care and remain within their network. Your usual copays, coinsurance, or deductibles will apply. What follows are some things that you can do to prepare for travel.

Know Before You Go

1. Know how to access your health care benefits while you're away from home:
   • Read this PEBB chart (page 2),
   • Call your health plan’s customer service staff with questions, or
   • Review the Certificate of Coverage from your health plan for details about covered services.
2. When traveling, be sure to pack your health plan’s toll free customer service phone number and your subscriber or member ID number (if you have one).
3. Pack your family's medications, especially medications, which may be difficult to get away from home. If traveling by air, leave medications in the original bottles.
4. If you have allergies, reactions to certain medications, foods, or insect bites, or other special medical problems, consider wearing a medical alert bracelet.

During an Emergency

If you or family members require immediate medical attention due to illness or injury while you're traveling, you should go to the nearest hospital emergency room. If you go to a non-network facility, you must contact your provider within 24 hours or as soon as is reasonably possible after the emergency.

If you will be traveling abroad and are concerned about finding an English-speaking and Western-trained doctor, consider joining IAMAT, the International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers. This non-profit organization offers a list of English-speaking doctors in member countries who charge affordable, standardized fees for medical visits. (Membership is free but a donation is requested; phone 519-836-0102.) Otherwise you can get referrals for medical help from other agencies that deal with Americans on the road, such as embassies, consulates, tourist offices, and large hotels.

Resources:

• HCA's Travel Fact Sheet
• Group Health's Travel Advisory Service
• Kaiser's Care When You Travel
• MedLine Plus Travel Tips
• International Association for Medical Assistance to Travelers (IAMAT)

Safe at Home

Develop a Plan for You and Your Family

Wrap up spring quarter by taking just 15 minutes to assess what you've done to prepare yourself and your family in the event of an emergency such as a fire or an earthquake. Go to UW Emergency Management to develop a plan that's right for you.

Sign Up for UW Alert

The University of Washington uses UW Alert to disseminate official information during emergencies or crisis situations that may disrupt the normal operation of the UW or threaten the health or safety of members of the UW community. UW Alert is offered on a voluntary self-subscription basis for current UW faculty, staff, and students. Sign up here.

Wellness Partner News

Washington Ranks #10 in New Healthiest State Report Card

For the first time since 1999, Washington State is back among the top ten "Healthiest States in the Nation." Vermont ranked #1, followed by Connecticut, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Utah, Hawaii, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Washington.

The Report Card uses 17 health measures and outcomes as benchmarks for progress. Among our state's strengths were Smoking Rates (#5), Injury & Violence Prevention (#5), Years of Life Lost (#7) and Physical Activity (#9). The report also gauges health disparities within each measure. Read more at www.HealthiestState.org.

The Washington Health Foundation (WHF) strives to make Washington the "Healthiest State in the Nation," and the University of Washington is a partner in this effort.

Fruit of the Month

Strawberry

Did you know? On average, there are 200 tiny seeds on every strawberry.

Selection:
Choose shiny, firm fruit with a bright red color. Caps should be fresh, green and intact.
Avoid shriveled, mushy or leaky berries.

Storage:
Do not wash until ready to eat. May be stored in refrigerator for 1-3 days.

Nutrition Benefits:
Strawberries are fat free, sodium free, cholesterol free, high in vitamin C, and high in folate.

Recipes:
Strawberry Mint Lemonade
Strawbrosia Parfaits
Rainbow Fruit Salad

Go to the Fruits & Veggies Database to find more recipes for using strawberries in your everyday meals.

Ah, Nuts!

Pecans

Did you know? If you stacked 11,624 pecans end to end your stack would be as tall as the Empire State Building!

Selection:
When selecting unshelled nuts, choose ones that are heavy for their size, free from cracks and blemishes. Shake unshelled nuts—they should not rattle. Rattling is an indication of age.

Storage:
Store unshelled nuts up to three months at room temperature or up to one year in the freezer. Refrigerate shelled nuts for up to six months and freeze up to one year.

Nutrition Benefits:
Pecans are sodium free, an excellent source of manganese, and a good source of copper, thiamin (vitamin B1) and fiber.

Nuts are important to your overall diet—barring any allergies, of course. Choose nuts as a snack, on salads, or in main dishes. Use them to replace meat or poultry, but not in addition to these items as they contain lots of calories.

Go to the Recipe Database to find how to use pecans in your meals.

Source: FruitsandVeggiesMoreMatters.gov