The First Hour: Get Safe, Get Seen
Your first priority is immediate medical attention. Call the local emergency number (not every country uses 911), ask your hotel's front desk for help, or go straight to the nearest emergency room. Keep your passport, insurance or membership card and a list of medications with you.
Save these details on your phone before every trip:
- The local emergency number for each country you visit
- Your assistance or insurance provider's 24/7 phone line
- Your home doctor's contact details
- A short medical summary: conditions, allergies and current medications
The First Call That Changes Everything
Once you're being treated, the most important call goes to your assistance provider. A 24/7 emergency care service acts as your team back home while you're abroad. Instead of you or your family chasing answers from a foreign hospital, a coordinator takes over:
- Confirming the hospital is suitable for your condition, or finding a better one
- Speaking directly with treating doctors, often through medical staff of their own
- Explaining the diagnosis and treatment plan to you and your family in plain language
- Keeping relatives informed, even across time zones
This coordination removes the guesswork at a time when stress makes clear decisions harder.
What Families Can Do From Home
Relatives are often the ones who make the first call, especially if the traveler is unwell or unconscious. Families can help by:
- Sharing the traveler's membership or policy number with the assistance team
- Providing medical history and the home doctor's details
- Letting the coordinator know about companions or children who also need help getting home
- Keeping one person as the main point of contact to avoid mixed messages
When It's Time to Go Home
Once the patient is stable, the medical team decides whether they can travel and how. Some return on a commercial flight with a medical escort. Others need a private medical jet. Either way, ground transport, hospital handovers and companion travel should be planned together, not left to the family to arrange piece by piece. Your coordinator should manage this transition, confirming a receiving hospital near home and sharing medical records so care continues without gaps.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Waiting too long to call for help. Assistance teams can act faster when they're involved early.
- Signing hospital paperwork you don't understand. Ask your coordinator first.
- Booking flights home yourself. A patient who isn't cleared to fly may be refused boarding or put at risk.
- Assuming your home health plan will pay. Many don't cover care abroad.
Preparing Before You Leave
A medical emergency abroad is never easy, but preparation makes it manageable. Carry your key contacts, know who to call first, and choose protection that includes real people ready to coordinate your care around the clock.