For Parents—Safety & Health

Basic Safety

Royal Servants takes the safety and health of each participant seriously.  We go to the greatest lengths to ensure that your son/daughter remains healthy and is safe throughout the trip.  We are aware that we work with parents’ greatest treasures, their children. Therefore, no student is allowed to be alone in any city; Royal Servants always travel in groups of three or more, with either a male or a staff discipler in each group. The Trip Leaders also continually monitor conditions within the host country. If a situation arises that threatens the security of the team, either politically or from environmental conditions, the team will be moved to a stable location.

Health Issues

Although medical facilities vary in the countries we minister in, we place a high priority on each student’s physical well being. Our staff does not attempt to diagnose or trivialize a student’s physical condition. If sickness or an injury occurs, we seek professional medical advice and take whatever medical steps necessary.

Most health issues that may affect a student while on the mission are easily treated.  During the summer a minor injury or mild sickness may occur.  As noted above, Royal Servants will seek professional medical advice and take whatever medical steps necessary if a medical need arises.

In rare cases, though, a major illness or injury may necessitate a medical evacuation.  In such a case, one or both parents may need to join their child overseas to facilitate their care and transportation.  This is extremely expensive.  Most travel insurance policies have “medical evacuation/repatriation” (getting them home), and “emergency reunion” (getting you to them) coverage.  If your home policy does not have such coverage, we strongly suggest you consider it.  Royal Servants does not have the ability to cover medical evacuation of participants.

Health Insurance

Each student who participates on Royal Servants must be covered by health insurance during the entire trip.  This is not an option.  Some families will have plans that cover their children while they are in the United States, but not once they get overseas.  If your insurance plan does NOT cover your son or daughter overseas, you will need to purchase travel insurance.  We have included one very good travel insurance option in your student’s Prep Packet.  Others can be found if you simply Google “international travel insurance.”

Note: Most travel insurance requires that the entire duration of the “trip” is covered, including Training Camp and must be purchased prior to departing home for such.

If someone needs medical attention during the summer, costs will be taken out of their spending money account.  These dollars can be replaced by simply sending a check to cover the medical/medication costs to the Reign Ministries’ office.  Once the money has been received at Reign Ministries, the expenses will be added back into the participant’s spending account.

Royal Servants will not deplete a student’s spending money if it is too late in the summer for you to reimburse the account or if that student is running low on spending money.  In these cases, the medical expense will be paid for by Royal Servants and a bill will be mailed to you after the student returns from the trip.

Medications

Your son/daughter will need to bring medication with them this summer (we recommend a pain reliever, Benadryl, Hydrocortisone Cream, and Dramamine if needed); and the WI State Department of Health Services requires that each medication is in its own container and is labeled to include the name of participant, the name of the medication, the dosage, the frequency of administration and the route of administration (orally, topically, etc).

For prescription medication, the label must also have the name of the prescribing physician, prescription number, date prescribed, possible reverse side effects, and the conditions when it would be necessary to contact the physician. There is a Prescription Info Sheet, included in the forms folder, that will need to be filled out (there are 5 cards on each sheet, only one card per prescription is needed). Also, if the prescription is in tablet form, please count them to ensure there are enough; pharmacies sometimes make mistakes!

Not only are many teenagers prone to forgetfulness, but the WI State Department of Health Services requires that all oral medication be kept by the leaders and dispersed by them as needed or prescribed. If your son/daughter is allergic to something that requires an emergency injection, please make sure you send two kits—one to stay in the student’s possession and one to remain with leadership.  In the case of asthma, please send two inhalers. Also, if your son/daughter needs to carry an emergency EpiPen, please include two.

Note: Depending on the team, we may not be able to accommodate medications that need to be refrigerated overseas. Please check with the Trip Leader to determine availability of refrigeration.

Behavioral/Mood-altering Medications: If your son/daughter is on behavior/ mood-altering medications prior to Training Camp, do not take them off of the medication for the summer unless approved by your physician. During the trip your son/daughter will experience many things that they don’t at home. These experiences may add additional stress. It is not healthy for your student, the team, or the leaders to deal with situations that may arise from the effects of a student taken off medication prematurely.

Vaccinations

Depending on the team your son or daughter chooses, vaccines may be needed.  Royal Servants provides a list of required vaccinations on the Physician Form found in your student’s Prep Packet.  These vaccinations are required before your son/daughter will be allowed to participate in Royal Servants.  These can be expensive and are not always covered by your medical insurance.  An alternative to your regular physician is to check with your county health clinic, as their prices can be substantially less expensive.

You can find out which vaccines are required by referring to the “Physician Form,” located in your son’s/daughter’s Prep Packet.