It's bad enough catching a cold during midterms week or spraining an ankle in a satellite gym. But when students get sick abroad, they can end up grappling with an administrative headache.
Claire Luchette '13 was hospitalized for a week in August for Dengue fever while studying abroad in India. "It was rather grim," she wrote in an email to The Herald. "I was never entirely sure of what I was being medicated with." Luchette has been hospitalized three times so far during her time in India.
Brown was helpful in coordinating emergency medical assistance by referring her to an emergency room in Delhi where she could receive care, Luchette wrote. The hospital stay was "scary and fairly lonely," she wrote, though International SOS — a health care and medical services provider that serves Brown students studying abroad — maintained contact to ensure that her treatments were going smoothly. But she had to deal with insurance information and communicating with her parents on her own, Luchette wrote, "which became a bit stressful."
Because of the language barrier, it was often difficult to communicate her questions, Luchette wrote, and she "became convinced that the nurses were giggling about me in Hindi."
Brooke Dalury '12 had two weeks left of her fall semester in Paris last year when she fell and twisted her ankle while running to catch the Metro. Not wanting to go to the hospital, Dalury said she did not want to make a big deal at first. But her boss, a French citizen and fluent English speaker, drove her to the hospital for an X-ray.
"Luckily, I do speak French, but it's hard to be thinking in another language when I'm in pain," Dalury said. "It's just a little harder when you're in a stressful situation to be explaining specific circumstances in a different language," such as distinguishing between twisting or rolling your ankle.
After several hours in the waiting room, she learned that her leg was broken in three places and that she would probably need surgery, Dalury said.
According to the Office of International Programs website, all Brown students who study abroad are covered by a Brown Travel Assistance Plan, administered through International SOS. Coverage applies regardless of whether students attend Brown programs or approved alternative programs. SOS is not an insurer but provides emergency medical evacuation service. Its services include more than 3,500 professionals in medical facilities on five different continents.
Though SOS would have covered Dalury's surgery, her parents did not want her to have surgery in a foreign country and encouraged her to come home, she said. She received a cast on her leg so she could fly home safely and ended her semester in Paris two weeks early. Her program coordinators allowed Dalury to finish her study abroad requirements from the U.S.
For students studying in areas where adequate medical facilities are not locally available, International SOS seeks approval from the University and from the students requiring medical care to evacuate them to a capable facility. Evacuations are supervised by physicians and may involve an air ambulance if necessary, according to the Brown-specific section of the SOS website.
Once students have applied and been accepted to study abroad programs, they may choose to fill out a disclosure form about their physical condition, psychological or emotional problems and recent injuries or diseases. For instance, because certain medications are named differently depending on the location, students are encouraged to get a note from a physician with the medication's generic name to ensure they are able to renew prescriptions if necessary, said Kendall Brostuen, director of international programs and associate dean of the College.
Students preparing to go abroad should make health concerns known to coordinators at the outset, he said.
Pre-existing mental health issues can be exacerbated when students are abroad, he added.
"Study abroad can be challenging in the best of circumstances," Brostuen said.
