Find where the urgent care centers are BEFORE you travel!

We have learned a LOT traveling with 3 kids with asthma over the years. I have learned to ALWAYS checked our destination for Urgent Care centers BEFORE we leave on vacation. Just in case.

Need to know what’s available by Disneyland? I can tell you! How about the Grand Canyon? Washington DC? Grandma’s house? I can tell you that too!

I’m one of those believer’s in Murphy’s Law (If anything can go wrong, it will.)

I’ve decided to outsmart Murphy over the years. It seems like if I am prepared for something, it WON’T happen. If I’m NOT prepared, something WILL happen.

So, I always look BEFORE we travel to find the closest hospital or urgent care. If there is an accident or illness while we are traveling, the last thing I want to do is try to try to find medical help while we are in a strange place and in a panic. (We learned that lesson the hard way while we were in Hawaii on vacation…..but that story is for another time.)

Over the holiday weekend, we went to see family. Daughter Kitty had a cold, but can usually use her rescue inhaler (Albuterol ) and be okay.  I asked Kitty if she wanted to pack the nebulizer for our trip. When the kids were little we ALWAYS packed the nebulizer – even if no one was sick. My kids have difficult to control asthma (as evidenced by 12 hospitalizations). So, we always felt safer knowing our trusty nebulizer was with us – just in case.

We decided not to bring it this time. Big mistake. Kitty used the nebulizer at home before we left, but still wasn’t feeling well by the time we got to family's house 5 hours later. She used her inhaler, but was still struggling to breathe. 

I told her the Urgent Care was only a couple of miles away, and we could head there for a treatment with a nebulizer. She didn’t want to go. After watching her for a while, I could tell she was getting worse. 

 

So, even though she complained (gotta love teenagers!), we dragged her to the Urgent Care. And I am sooooo glad we went! Not only were her lungs still really tight, but she also had an ear infection.

I told Urgent Care Doc that we were traveling and had not brought our nebulizer. They tracked down a home health care company that could deliver a nebulizer (at midnight on a Sunday night no less!) We debated whether to rent it or just buy it. But since our nebulizer is 16 years old, we decided it would be safer to have a new one. Who knows how much longer ours will last?

And there it is! A tiny new nebulizer (our old one is twice that size.....)

Kitty felt so much better after using the nebulizer. When she is sick, the nebulizer seems to work better than if she uses her rescue inhaler.

I am so glad I knew where the Urgent Care was located, so we could calmly drive there. I also knew they would take care of her and our insurance would also cover that visit. 

If you are traveling, PLEASE make sure you find the closest Urgent Care or hospital before you leave. We also carry an Out-Of-State insurance card  since our insurance will cover us in an emergency when we travel to other states.

If you are prepared, you may not need to use it. We have been going to family's house for 21 years, and this is the first time we have needed to use an Urgent Care  in their city for one of the kids. 

Include Urgent Care centers when planning for vacation.....just in case.