Gilmer County International Travel Clinic provides total travel health services
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1 Some travel for business or to volunteer, while others visit loved ones or take vacations to faraway lands, each of which has varying degrees of health risks. These risks, whether visiting Monaco or Mozambique, are why the first destination before departure should be to a travel health clinic.
Every year, more and more Americans travel internationally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).The Gilmer County International Travel Clinic is a member of the International Society of Travel Medicine established in 1991 and is centrally located in north Georgia within the Gilmer County Health Department in Ellijay.
"We serve travelers from this entire region,” said Krystal Sumner, nurse manager of the Gilmer County Health Department and supervisor of the Gilmer County International Travel Clinic. “Clients from Atlanta to Chattanooga and all areas in between, both far and wide, come to us for services. Very often, other travel clinics refer clients to us because it may be as long as six weeks before they can squeeze them in, but we can usually see them within a week.”
The travel clinic in Gilmer County provides comprehensive health services that travelers need before leaving the country. These services include an individual assessment of each client's health history, travel itinerary, travel risks and selection of the appropriate travel vaccines to ensure a healthy journey.
Additionally, staff offers recommendations for malaria medications and preventive treatment for travelers’ diarrhea and the clinic is certified to administer the yellow fever vaccine.
Travelers receive the latest information on outbreak alerts such as for Zika and chikungunya viruses, two mosquito-borne illnesses that are currently of concern in certain countries.
Health alert updates and recommendations for travelers are received daily from reliable sources that include the CDC and TRAVAX, a website that serves as a clinical support tool for travel medicine practitioners in helping clients make travel decisions. The site provides independently researched risk-mitigation recommendations.
“We have the ability to provide vaccine to people for many diseases they are less likely to encounter in the U.S. but may be exposed to in other parts of the world, such as polio, measles and even yellow fever,” said Sumner. “But for some diseases, there is no vaccine, and Zika and chikungunya are among them. In these cases, we educate travelers about who should go and who should not go to places where such outbreaks exist and if they do go, how to monitor themselves when they come back home, what symptoms to watch for and to contact their doctor if they develop those symptoms.”
Since opening in 2010, clinic staff has assisted several hundred clients traveling to all parts of the globe for everything from vacations to business to mission trips at affordable rates.
“Our goal for the traveler,” said Sumner, “is to ensure they can stay healthy and focused on the purpose of their trip and not suffer the terrible effects of an illness that could have been prevented. We want them to return as safe and sound as the day they left home.”
The Gilmer County International Travel Clinic is located in the county health department at 28 Southside Church Street in Ellijay. Hours of operation are 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, 7:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesdays and 7:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fridays. The clinic closes for an hour at noon each Monday through Thursday.
Although appointments can be arranged within days, travelers are encouraged to schedule a pre-travel clinic appointment at 1 to 2 months prior to any international travel departure. This would provide enough time to receive immunizations and to begin building immunity to diseases that may be encountered on a particular journey.
To schedule an appointment with the Gilmer County International Travel Clinic, call (706) 635-4363, extension 104 or 113. To download pre-travel forms from online, click on GCHD_International_Travel_Clinc_Flyer.pdf and Pretravel_Form.pdf.
Services are provided on a sliding fee scale based on income.
Services:
Prenatal Services
Offers examinations to pregnant women (laboratory work and nutritional counseling and education).
Family Planning Services
Provides birth control information, exams, and birth control methods to interested persons.
Presumptive Eligibility
Provides Medicaid coverage to income-eligible pregnant women during the Medicaid application processing period.
Perinatal Case Management
Provides a person to person approach which weaves together resources, including health and social services, for pregnant women to allow for healthy pregnancies resulting in healthy babies.
Babies Can't Wait/Child Tracking Program
Identifies and follows high-risk infants and children and provides a coordinated approach to health care for them.
Well Baby
Provides complete physical examinations to children from infancy to 6 years of age including screening tests, immunizations, and nutritional counseling.
Health Checks
Provides screening of medical and/or developmental problems for Medicaid-eligible children from infancy to 20 years of age.
Newborn Screening
Provides metabolic blood tests to assess for metabolic abnormalities that can cause mental retardation and other permanent disorders.
Dental Clinic
Provides dental services for children
Breast and Cervical Cancer Program
The Breast and Cervical Cancer Program provides screening and follow up services to low income, uninsured/underinsured women throughout Georgia who meet eligibility requirements.
Stroke and Heart Attack Prevention Program
Provides blood pressure screening, education, monitoring, treatment, and follow-up.
Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
This program is a special nutrition program that provides nutrition education, food supplements and referrals to health care providers to eligible pregnant, breastfeeding or postpartum women, infants, and children up to age five.
Children's Medical Services
Serves children from birth to 21 years of age by providing various medical needs. Persons can be referred by physicians or public health nurses. Specialty clinics such as diabetes, seizure, hearing, cardiac, and orthopedics are provided.
Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) Services
Provides physical examinations, lab tests, and treatment of STDs, as well as follow-up for identified cases. Also provides AIDS testing and counseling services.
Services for Healthier Communities:
General Nursing Services
Provides immunizations, blood tests, hearing, vision, dental screening, tuberculosis screening and pregnancy tests.
Immunizations
Provides immunizations for all ages with an emphasis on adequate immunization in infants up to two years of age.
On-site Immunization Clinics
Provides on-site vaccinations to employee groups.
Child Safety Seat checks and fittings
*For more information on any of the services mentioned above contact the Gilmer County Health Department.