Florida Guide > Hints and Tips
Medical Treatment
So, you and the family have made the decision to go to Florida, perhaps for an once-in-a-lifetime holiday or perhaps the lure of the State entices you more frequently.
The excitement within the family builds as the great day of departure arrives. The flight is taken - perhaps it was longer than you thought and Immigration and car rental procedure a little tiresome. Then, after all the months of waiting you open the door of your chosen villa and it all seems to have been worthwhile.
After a good nights sleep you all ready to go and see Mickey and his friends and what happens? One child has the sniffles; one complains of earache and perhaps you yourself are feeling a little under the weather.
Do not worry unduly. Whilst the States does not operate a form of universal health system such as the UK’s there are plenty of places to get help and remedies.
For general coughs and colds there is a plethora of over-the-counter medicines, many of which you will recognise from the UK. Paracetemol is sold under the name of Acetaminophen.
The pharmacists in the stores you will find very helpful and many medicines that are unobtainable in the UK without a prescription are available in Florida.
For more serious situations, perhaps as the result of a bite from an unknown insect or animal I would suggest a visit to a Walk In Center; they are in many locations. You will need to take passport for identification and credit card for payment but you will be issued with a receipt to present to your insurance company.
In relation to bites from unknown insects I strongly suggest that visitors do not walk on grassy areas, even at your villa, in bare feet or even open-toes shoes without socks. Florida is a foreign country, there are all sorts of insects and I know from experience that ants can give a very nasty bite.
Last, and hopefully not needed, is a visit to a hospital Accident and Emergency Department - the Emergency Room we are largely familiar with from television programmes. As in the case of the Walk In Centers I am afraid payment will have to made for treatment and medication but the professionals are experienced in supplying the correct paperwork for insurance claims.
Certainly at the hospital local to my villa in Florida the staff will not contact your insurance company so it is best, unless the situation is life-and-death, that you contact your UK insurance company before you venture to a walk in center or hospital. A visit to a walk in center can cost around $81. 00 plus prescription costs.
It is wise to take a UK prescription of any necessary medication in case of long-term delayed return flights such as the situation with the ash cloud in the spring of 2010 when some visitors had an extra three-week stay to their holiday.
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