Medical Records
 

Hi all,

Well, our move is creeping closer and there's still so much to sort :eek:I have a large list in front of me and I'm now about to call our GP for medical records. We will be coming over on a L1a visa for 2 years (me, OH and 12yr daughter). Can I just check, do I need to bring our full medical records for a 3 of us or just vaccination records/chicken pox letter for our daughter?

Additionally, I know that my daughter will need additional vaccinations, but I am having trouble understanding the NJ requirements and thought it would probably be easier to get any additional vaccinations in the US, where I assume they will know what she needs. If this sounds like crap idea let me know:thumbsup:

Many thanks,

Re: Medical Records
 

I just got a health summary for the 3 of us. It was all vaccinations for my daughter, and things for the last 3 years for me and Mr Weeze. I did the same as you for mini Weeze. She got her additional vaccinations here in the US. She needed Hep and chicken pox. We are in Texas though.

Re: Medical Records
 

I'd contact the school/ school district now to find out what vaccinations she needs, and get them in the UK. It'll be one less thing to worry about and quite possibly cheaper than in the US. If she's had chicken pox a letter from your doctor in lieu of a vaccine should be acceptable, but you might want to check that (if it applies to your daughter).

Re: Medical Records
 

Thanks for the replies. Looking at the NJ website, I think she needs:

Hep B
TDap
MMR (she had measles & rubella separate, never had mumps)
Meningococcal

As Pulaski suggests, I will contact NJ dept of health to see what she may need.

I'll also call our GP and see which ones she can have close together. We are moving in 3 weeks, so there is not really a great deal of time to leave gaps between each shot.

When we arrive in the US, we will be in corp apartment to begin with before looking for our own place to rent. I think that the schools break up mid June, so I am unlikely to have even registered for a school, not even sure which area we will move to! I will however have all summer to arrange for her to have a physical and missing vaccines sorted out.

Re: Medical Records
 

Hep B is two shots. MMR and Menigococcal we were already covered for. We didn't have to pay anything for childhood immunizations, but I think that's a Texas thing.
You can sign a waver to say you are against vaccines to get them started at school. A friend had to do that as her school was insisting on her son redoing all of his vaccinations again.

Re: Medical Records
 

Unfortunately NJ is one of the states that vaccines can only be opted out of on either medical or religious grounds. For any vaccine that requires multiple shots (hep B and MMR) as long as she has had one shot of each she can start school and I think we have 12 months to have the second shot of each of these. I don't really want to be giving her MMR, hep B, TDap and possibly Menigococcal all in the space of 3 weeks.:( I think I will get the MMR here and see what GP says about the others.

Re: Medical Records
 

We moved to NJ last summer.

We had to have 3 Heb B. Had 1 and 2 (a month apart) in the UK then 3 six months later here. School did keep chasing for this as they need record on file in case of audit. Also due to the time of year we were getting their health check we got the flu jab.

Think they got the TDap one here, doctors bill helpfully doesn't say which injections just IMM. Meningococcal we didn't need as it had to be done by a certain age and then they develop their own immunity?? (something like that, I took all 3 at the same time and was in the doctors 3 hours so I have tried to block it from my memory)

For some reason my younger 2 (5 at the time) needed 2 more injections than my older one.

Our school had doctors/nurses sheets online that you could print and take with you to the doctors to get them to fill in what they had and when so you could see what was required.

HTH

Re: Medical Records
 

The most common Hep shot is called TwinRix, which provides protection for Hep A and Hep B. It's a 3 shot course, with the first, then a month later the second, then a follow up in six months. Many people just get this instead of just a Hep B shot.

There is no problem with multiple shots in the same doctor's visit. Some doctors prefer this vs. "every time we go to the doctor I get a shot" which can cause panic in kids such that they don't want to go to the doctor when sick with other ailments. You can get these shots done in the USA but you are going to pay for them, which may add up a bit even if you have US health insurance (copays and whatnot).

http://www.cdc.gov/vaccinesafety/vac...evaccines.html

NOTE: if you are planning on moving here permanently, the waivers that you might qualify in some states for schools may not be accepted when confronted with an immigration doctor.

As for your original question about medical records, if it's no real problem to get your full file, I'd go ahead and get that, especially if you have a condition you are being treated for or have had some testing done. A good solid record of say blood tests in your 20s/30s/40s will provide somewhat of a 'baseline' that may be important in your 50s/60s/70s.

Re: Medical Records
 

Thank you for the info. I think that my daughter will have the adult dose of Hep B, which means she will only need 2 shots and not 3:unsure: I have booked her in for the MMR this week and will have a word with the GP to see if she can have any of the others here before we go. Would you mind letting me know if any of your children felt unwell afterwards? I'm just not wanting to have daughter feeling poorly on the flight over/ first few days in US, especially as OH might be off on a couple of business trips.

Re: Medical Records
 

I did wonder about the full file. I am very healthy but I had part of my thyroid removed about 30 years ago and for the past 12 years have been taking thyroxine. I know that I will need to pay for this and for any blood tests in the US. I only have a blood test once a year in UK, and my condition is stable. I don't need any scans/tests done in the US (we are only coming for 2 years) and hope that I am able to refuse any prodding about!

Re: Medical Records
 

Thats good only 2 then. No mine were all fine, didn't even complain of stiffness in the flu arm which I had with mine. I didn't get our full medical histories done, just a 2 page summary per person. I too am on thyroxine and have to get bloods done every 6 months here. Visit dr ($30) she does medical and writes me a script to take to diagnostic center where they swipe my CC and say it will be $60 max. Calls a couple of days later and says all ok come and get your prescription. I will leave it in an envelope stuck to the outside of my door. I get there and there are about 5 for different people :blink: Prescription is cheap though , less than $5 for 30 days or I have to get online if more than 3 months and that was only $10.

Re: Medical Records
 

Obviously the doctor/nurse will confirm, but the adult dosage of Hep B is 3 doses, not 2. I did Google to check and did find one double dosage for 11-15 year olds - perhaps it's this one (Recombivax).

Some kids feel slightly unwell, others are fine. As for multiple vaccines in one visit, best to do it that way than to keep going to the doctor's for another vaccination one at a time. DS once had 4, one in each arm and each butt cheek! Absolutely fine afterwards.

Re: Medical Records
 

I hope that she does not read this thread as she hates injections. She knows about the MMR and is already stressing, but I agree that it's probably better to have them all at once.

Re: Medical Records
 

GeoffM - Think I did something wrong as part of my reply to your post end up in your post!

Re: Medical Records
 

You have to manually copy the quote and /quote tags (including the square brackets) so that the forum knows it's you writing and not the original quoted text.

But I can see the line you added :)