Health & Safety Topics
We recognize that traveling to another country can cause some anxiety, not just for the traveler, but also for family members remaining back home. George School has been taking students overseas to perform service since 1947 and we have learned a lot through this depth of experience.
We hope the following information on this page will not only answer some of your questions, but also help put you at ease.
Experience and Supervision
We typically have a high ratio of adults to students on our trips. Because adults-in-training participate along with two experienced trip leaders, it is normal for us to have at least a 1:3 ratio of adults to students, providing us with more student supervisory capacity. In addition, because the GSP operates in part as a training program for teachers from other schools, we ensure that our trip leaders have experience taking students on overseas trips. Some of our leaders have led over twenty international trips!
Rigorous Host Family Selection Criteria
We have a specific set of criteria that needs to be met for families to host our participants such as the ability to supply potable water and a clean bed for the participants, and a willingness to be actively involved in the day-to-day activities of the group. Our goal is to identify host families who have teen-aged children to enhance the cultural experience. Host families must live in close proximity of each other and where the trip leaders will be staying. Host families are chosen in conjunction with the Global Service Program Director and our in-country partners. In most cases, the families have experience hosting groups of foreign visitors.
Vaccinations Every country has its own particular health care risks and every person has different levels of comfort regarding those risks when traveling overseas. For this reason, we strongly recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider to help you determine the appropriate vaccines and medicines for your trip. Please note that some vaccinations require more than one dose taken several weeks apart, so you should talk with your healthcare provider well in advance.
The following CDC websites provide useful information regarding travel to specific countries, but are not a replacement for a visit with your own physician:
http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/list.aspx http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellowbook/2010/chapter-2/travel-health-kits.aspx Overseas Emergency Medical and Evacuation Insurance George School students and employees are automatically covered under the George School insurance plan. For other participants, we highly recommend that, in addition to your regular health insurance, you purchase emergency medical and evacuation insurance for overseas travel. We have had good experiences with HTH Worldwide, which specializes in travel insurance. They provide comprehensive and affordable insurance for medical treatment, emergency evacuation, and other unplanned events while traveling overseas. In most cases, you can purchase very good coverage for under $40.
To obtain a quote and purchase travel insurance, visit the HTH Worldwide website at
http://www.hthtravelinsurance.com/travel_medical.cfm.
Careful Advance Planning In advance of each trip, a GSP leader either personally visits the country program site, or the GSP works with its country partners who carry out the site visit. By doing this, we can work out any last minute details that may be necessary to make the trip as safe and meaningful as possible.
Hospitals and Medical Clinics
Project sites are chosen with access to medical facilities in mind. Typically, we are within one hour of a clinic and two hours of a hospital with modern facilities. The names and addresses of local clinics and hospitals are provided closer to the trip departure date.
Communication
Our trip leaders and guides all have cell phones that work in their country of travel and have international calling plans. It is our policy that trip leaders either call or email the GSP contact person at George School every few days to provide a progress report. The GSP contact person then shares that information with participant families either by email or posting to a shared blog.
At times, the groups may have access to internet cafes where participants themselves can post to a blog and send an email back home.