Preparing for Departure

6 weeks before leaving:

• Make appointment with Brown Student Health Services (if you are a student and on student health insurance), your PCP, or a travel clinic (Miriam Travel Medicine Services, 793-4075; Memorial Travel Clinic, 729-3610)


• Locate your immunization record.
  At the appointment you will probably need the following vaccines if you haven’t already received them for other reasons:
  1. Hepatitis A
  2. Hepatitis B
  3. Tetanus booster
  4. Typhoid
• You will also need a prescription for:
1. Malaria prophylaxis (most likely weekly Chloroquine, beginning 1-2 weeks before departure, and continuing for 4 weeks following return from DR)
2. Traveler’s Diarrhea antibiotics (Ciprofloxacin)
3. Any other prescription meds that you take regularly
• You should also arrange a time to have a PPD planted and read.

*Please note that you will require more than one month’s worth of these medications, so you may need to contact your prescription plan in advance to obtain an OVERRIDE

Traveler’s Insurance:

It is required that all participants obtain traveler’s insurance for your trip to the DR. Rates for a month are generally around $75.

www.totaltravelinsurance.com allows you to compare several travel insurance companies and plans.

Packing List: (Adapted from Jocelyn Burke’s original text)

• White coat and ID tag
• Stethoscope
• Pen Light
• Sabatine or Ferri pocket clinical advisor for slow times
• Passport
• ATM card—the best way to get cash.
• US dollars—At least $50
• Hospital clothes: (Residents’ uniforms are white coat & white pants)
  
  • MEN—Button down shirt (can be short sleeved), tie, slacks, close-toed shoes
  • WOMEN—Most professional women here wear long pants, closed-toed shoes, and a short sleeved top. Be forewarned that the weather is quite hot, but Dominicans still go out in this full professional attire.
  • Emergency room clothes—the common outfit here is a scrub top with the white uniform bottoms or jeans. Scrub tops are really the only thing considered appropriate to wear without a white coat on top.
• Clothes for any rural/mountain visits:
• Pants that you won’t mind getting dirty (read: mud, rain, DEET)
• Shoes that you feel comfortable descending a steep, muddy incline in
• Lightweight raincoat (if you have one)
• Umbrella (it’s the tropics: it rains a lot)
  *note: there are 2-3 umbrellas at the apartment in case you can't fit this in your luggage*
• Clothes to go out in: nice jeans (or nice pants or skirts), city club-worthy shirts, heels/cute flats for women, nice shoes for men. Again, women usually wear jeans, not shorts.
• Workout clothes and gear: there’s a park nearby (but note that it is very hot and humid here, so pack accordingly!). There is also a big enough living room so that you could work out in the apartment if you want.
• Swim suit (depending on how often you want to go to the beach--check out the travel within DR section, you might want to pack 2-3 swimsuits)
• Beach sandals
• Sunglasses
• Stainless steel or plastic water bottle
• Toiletries:
• Sunscreen: can be expensive in the DR
• Travel size hand sanitizer: it is very difficult to find soap in the hospital, much less hand sanitizer.
• contact lens solution (easy to find, but expensive)
• preferred makeup, face lotions
• nail clippers
• tweezers
• toothbrush
• floss
• Women: your preferred feminine products, because most from the states are hard to find here. *note: actually, there are plenty of places (large walmart-style grocery stores, pharmacies for pads/tampons) to buy products you might get in the states. bring what you most need, but don't panic if you forget something.*
• Camera—with batteries, charger, memory or film, etc.
• Malaria prophylaxis
• Any other medications you take. Always carry medications in their original containers, in your carry- on luggage.
• Over-the-counter antidiarrheal medication (e.g., Immodium)

Optional

• Laptop— There is wireless Internet in the apt. A communal IBM Thinkpad is also available for shared use.
• Alarm clock/device
• Flash drive
• Granola/protein bars (pricier and less variety in DR)
• Reading material: there are left-behind novels in the apt, but it might be a good idea to bring at least some journal articles you want to catch up on and/or a novel

Things to leave at home/Things already in the apartment:

• Towel—though there are no great big beach towels, there are plenty for showers.
• Anything vaguely warm. *NOTE—qualified statement: You will want one light long-sleeved casual shirt to have if we spend any nights on the mountain, just in the off- chance it gets cool. This also comes in handy on the overly-air-conditioned bus trips.
• Appliances—The apartment already has a hair dryer and iron, multiple coffee making devices, and other things.
• Hangers
• Pillows/bedsheets/etc.
• DVD’s: there are a number of movies in the apt
• Guidebooks: there are a lot of great DR guidebooks in the apt.

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