The Foreign Service Journal, September 2005

SEPTEMBER 2005 • AFSA NEWS 9 A t our last post, Almaty, it got so bad that our Regional Medical Officer, Dr. Ottwell, threatened to rename the Medical Unit in honor of us. My family and I were her best customers—it seemed everyweek one of us paidher a visit. Sometimes, it was something simple: an ear infection, the stom- ach flu, a cough. But other times, we had big problems. First, I wasmedevacedon a teensy plane toFinland, where I underwent surgery. Another time, my toddler son got his hands on some Tylenol and drank the whole bottle. The medical staff held him down and force-fed him syrup of ipecac and charcoal until he vomited all over them. And finally, our tour was cut short when our infant became critically ill andMEDdetermined thatwe could no longer remain at post. There’s more. My husband had his appendix removed in Moscow. That happenedshortlybeforemyother sonwas attacked by a dog, resulting in giant gashes on his head and a panicked trip to theRMO. One sondeveloped an eye probleminYerevan; the other had reflux in Almaty. Someof theseproblemswouldhavebeeneasier tohandle state- side. I neverwant to travel onanair ambulance again, and I know my husband would prefer to avoid all Russian hospitals. But in manycases,we’veactuallybeen fortunate tobeoverseas. TheRMO inMoscow began evaluating my son within minutes of the dog attack. When he gulped the Tylenol, again, theywere helping us within the hour. When I was medevaced to Finland, it seemed half the doctors and nurses at the State Department were con- sulted about my care. I certainly never would have gotten such personalized care in an emergency room back in Virginia. It can feel lonelywhen you’re far fromhome and sick—who doesn’twant theirmother at a time like that? But every timewe’ve hadamedical crisis, the immediatemembers of our embassy com- munity have rallied around us. Not just the doctors and nurs- es, who’ve been known to make house calls. When I was lying in the emergency clinic inAlmaty, waiting for themedevac plane to arrive fromMoscow, I felt very alone—I’d been in the coun- try for less than two weeks and knew almost no one. But the CLO officer arrived with snacks and books and a sympathetic shoulder to cry on. Our sponsors watched our toddler for the day and kept our dog while we were away in Finland. My hus- band’s bosses never once complained that thenewguywas already leaving the country. And a dear friend of ours, another State Department RMO, actually met us in Finland to make sure we were okay. Everywherewe’vebeen,we’ve founda community that’s ready and willing to help us out whenever we’re in need. Only now, back in Virginia, as I juggle doctor’s appointments and sick kids without help fromthe neighbors, do I truly realizewhat a giftmy Foreign Service neighbors have been. r Donna Scaramastra Gorman is a free-lance writer in Virginia whose work has been published in the Washington Post and the Seattle Times. She has accompanied her RSO husband and two children to Moscow, Yerevan and Almaty. FS VOICE: FAMILY MEMBER MATTERS n BY DONNA SCARAMASTRA GORMAN Sick Overseas: Health Care and Neighbors in the Foreign Service Web-zine Calls for Help A message from the founder of Tales from a Small Planet : Good news first: Tales (the Web-zine for expats) has had a great year. We won a “Best of the Web” award from Forbes magazine, we recruited more staff and volunteers and we featured more Real Post Reports than ever before. We have a new editorial panel in place so that the quality of our literary magazine has risen. Our message boards are now monitored and are busier than ever. What’s the bad news? I’ll be blunt: If Tales does not raise a sub- stantial amount of money, we’re going out of business. This is not a fund-raising ploy — it’s a fact. We do not have enough funds at this time to continue paying our staff (and believe me, they’re working for rock-bottom stipends as it is). Please click on the Support Us button at the top of our home page at www.talesmag.com to find out how you can help keep us going. You’ve let us know by your frequent visits to our site that you need us. Now we really need you. Please send a donation, even a small one. It’s tax-deductible and any amount will help. Francesca Kelly, Tales from a Small Planet, “What it’s really like to live there.” USAA: End of the Road AFSA is standing down in the long fight to convince USAA to add non-State Foreign Service employees to those eligible for insurance cov- erage. We went to great lengths to push the issue with USAA, as we have reported over the past months. After AFSA Governing Board member TedWilkinson attended the 2004 USAA annual meeting and met with the USAA general counsel, a review of the policy barring new non-State membership was undertaken by USAA. The resulting conclusion by USAA was that “the principal mission of USAA is serving USAA’s core eligibility group, the active military. Extending eligibility to [State Department] FSOs and Foreign Service specialists was, and is, an accommodation… the accommodation will not be extended (to other groups)… regardless of the degree of similari- ty they bear to their Department of State counterparts.” USAA con- cludes by noting that AFSA should either accept this policy or face the alternative, which would be “achieving perfect symmetry by denying eli- gibility to all FSOs and Foreign Service specialists, including those in the Department of State.” Find the letter at www.afsa/org/aidvp/usaalettertowilkinson052605.pdf. For the time being, case closed. r