Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Defining "in the boonies"

Preparing for life in Phnom Penh has brought to my attention some issues that would never have entered my Pennsylvania mind. Case in point: Logos School offers great health insurance through a company designed for those in overseas missions. The Q & A section of the web site made me quite thankful that I'm traveling to a capitol city. (By the way, the answer was "yes.")

Q: We are serving in a remote village, a 5-day walk from the nearest airstrip, plus a plane journey away from the nearest doctor. There is, however, a police post with radio contact, which could be reached in one long day's run by a local villager. We are therefore concerned about what happens in an emergency. The program wording says it covers emergency medical airlift upon the advice of a registered practitioner. However, in our situation there are no doctors available. We would have to assess the situation ourselves, and if we thought it was an emergency, send a local runner down to the police post with a message to radio for help. Please can you give us a definite 'yes' or 'no' as to whether the policy would provide emergency helicopter lift out under these sort of conditions?

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