By: Maria Blong

Oh, the woes of preparing to travel.

We all love the idea of going on a trip. Traveling to a new place, engaging in new experiences, and expanding our breadth of knowledge about the world. In our heads, traveling is a rosy-colored dream. However, we quickly realize after taking off those rose-tinted glasses and examining the details with clearer vision, that preparing for a trip is a huge task.

Any veteran to travel, or on medical deployments in this case, knows the list of to-dos before embarking on the road is extensive. The items on your list stand at attention like little dotted soldiers, dutifully listing off all the cleaning, packing, checking, and double-checking those needs completed prior to leaving.

The medical professionals with a few emergency deployments under their belt can march through that list in a heartbeat. But, when you’re a newbie to this type of employment, it can be a bit overwhelming. As you’re rushing around to pack, your scrambled brain is probably thinking, “Why did I commit to this?”

Well, don’t worry – we’ve compiled a guide for beginners to help leapfrog your medical deployment skills from novice to expert in no time.

Before Committing to a Job

When it comes to emergency deployment for Krucial Rapid Response, we usually ask our medical professionals to arrive for their assignments by 10 pm the next day; we enforce this deadline in order to alleviate communities impacted by disaster as soon as possible. To be candid, it’s not a lot of time to put all your ducks in a row. So, it’s even more important to have as much as you can be sorted out before hopping on the earliest flight to your deployment location.

Preparation looks different for everyone in this situation. For instance, if you own a dog or inhabit an indoor jungle (we see you plant moms and dads), make sure you ask a partner or a family member to take care of what you leave behind. Arrange these plans with them in advance, providing proper instructions for care, and communicate that you might need them to take over at a moment’s notice.

However, you might not have these concerns if you have other members in your household. Maybe your main concern is how to stay in contact with your loved ones while away. We go more in-depth on this topic in our blog titled, How to Stay Connected with Your Loved Ones on a Travel Assignment. In general, it’s a good idea to discuss what communication will look like when you’re working 60+ hours a week. Try to set expectations that are realistic for your work schedule and desired method of communication.

Packing a Go-Bag

When it comes to packing a bag for emergency deployments, Krucial simplifies the process for you by limiting your wardrobe to one main item: black scrubs. Obviously, you’ll want to include a couple of street clothes for running errands on your day off and to relax after a long shift. We composed a complete list of what to bring in our previous blog, Packing a Go Bag for Deployment with Krucial Rapid Response. It provides some of our medical staff’s most popular items to bring on assignment. The blog reminds you to bring some more obvious things like your immunization records, two forms of I-9 documents, masks, and scrubs. It also mentions some less obvious items such as physical photos of your loved ones, a pen and paper for notes, and a flashlight.

While you might not have much free time while working, you should consider bringing something to help you decompress or entertain yourself after a long day. You could bring an e-book reader, some essential oils, a deck of cards, or any small, light item that is easy to pack in your bag.

The most important tidbit to remember is this: TRAVEL LIGHTLY. When the time comes to return home, you will be wishing you hadn’t jammed half your belongings in one luggage bag. So, as much as you can, strip down what you need to the bare essentials.

Flexible Attitude

There’s a common saying that states, “You can’t control what happens to you, but you can control how you react to it,” and in the realm of medical deployments, it seems to apply here. Ask any Krucial Krew member who has been previously deployed. This is not a walk in the park. These are emergencies, and we are the cavalry. Patient needs, the people you work with, and the hospitals you are supporting will demand a lot of energy. Understanding the facts and reality of the situation will help prepare you for the deployment.

Each medical professional goes into a deployment with an understanding that assignments can end early or last until they wish to go home. You may be switched to a different facility and make new connections with new staff. Simply put, emergency/crisis medical deployments have many, many moving parts, and nothing stays in place for too long. This is what we signed up for. Showing up with a good attitude and a willingness to adapt to provide the best care for your patients creates a more positive atmosphere for you and everyone in your vicinity.

Create a Guide Best Suited for You

The first hurdle is always the hardest. Once you complete your first deployment and prepare to deploy for a second round, you will have a better idea of what to expect and bring with you. Whether that’s deciding to pack an extra set of black scrubs or choosing to board your dog instead of asking someone else to care for them – you will figure out what is best suited for you and your medical deployment experience. We wish you nothing less than the best of success and will be here every step of the way to make sure your time with us is handled to the best possible extent.

Interested in contributing to the Krucial Kollective? Send us an e-mail at marketing@krucialrr.org and let us know what you would like to write!