Beginning medical and legal clearance – Eastern Caribbean



After one receives and accepts an invitation to serve in the Peace Corps there is a wave of emails and tasks to be completed within a certain time.  It is best to get organized and start working on the tasks because some have tight deadlines.  It is also good to re-read the instructions carefully; I’ve already made one mistake.

The tasks are divided into medical, legal, training, and administrative tasks.

Medical clearance


As one will be away for over 2 years and the Peace Corps takes your health and safety seriously, there is a rather rigorous medical clearance.  10% of those invited do not get medical clearance.

It will be but over 6 months since I finished my service until I deploy so I will do the whole medical clearance.  In my case that means an initial 23 steps and 62 pages of documentation.  Some of it is just repeating tasks done last time or sending information I already have – such as a copy of my yellow card for my vaccination records.  And as they still have all my records some of the 62 pages have information already completed (like health history) just needs to be updated.  I have 10 of the 23 initial steps completed.

I have the dental turned in and I need to get an eye exam.

I had an initial appointment with my doctor already scheduled for Friday and went with a stack of paper to figure out how to get most of the rest of the medical stuff done.  I expect I will see the quality of my ACA medical insurance.  At least I have insurance.  As I’m well over 50 I have one of those really fun tests with a great prep activity to do….  Sigh.

Legal


I’ve got one set of fingerprints.  Re-reading the instructions again (rather than go from memory - indicated that I will need to go back and get the other set of fingerprints.  I’m off early enough on Monday to get it sorted out and mailed out.  I got my passport photo and hopefully will be sending it off this week as well.

Training


There are also some training video I need to watch.  I’m working on that.

Administrative


Much of the administrative documentation that I filled out last time just needs to be reviewed, updated as needed, and resubmitted.  I’m making progress on that.

Health


Looking forward to getting medical clearance to serve.  Not looking forward to an upcoming test.

Love always,

John

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