Keeping our teams safe and healthy is our top priority at Youthlinc. We take it very seriously. Here are the precautions we take to make sure you, or your loved one gets home safe and sound. Click the link for a brief slideshow on the Youthlinc International Safety Protocols.
1. We send staff or representatives on site visits before-hand to make an assessment of the destination. In each of the rural villages we stay in, we make certain:
- We develop partnership with community leaders and in-country coordinators
- The village is safe, easily accessible by vehicle, and close to medical facility
- The team will have access to safe and reliable drinking water and food
- The team will stay in safe and clean accommodations, with running water
2. We maintain close contact with our in-country coordinators.
Our in-country coordinators are respected Rotarians in their communities, NGO staff, and leaders in their villages. With our students in mind, they help us determine projects, notify us of potential risks, and help us ensure that our transportation company, accommodations and restaurants are credible, safe and appropriate to the needs of our teams.
3. We prepare our teams for their trips.
- Every team members signs the Code of Conduct, which outlines basic rules such as not engaging in illegal behavior, following directions of the Team Leader, and staying with the team at all times. Team Leaders and mentors are strict on these rules when the teams are in country, so much so that a team member will be sent home from a trip if in violation of the rules.
- Youthlinc requires that any participants over 18 receive a background check.
- Each of our teams has a medical professional accompanying the team
- Each minor participant must have a medical check-up to ensure that it is safe for them to travel. A Medical Release Form must be signed by a physician in order for a minor to accompany the team.
- Each participant must sign a Medical Information Form stating that they have received information about traveling healthy. They have the option of providing confidential information about their health conditions that would help our volunteer medical staff meet their healthcare needs.
- Through a 10 year partnership with the University of Utah International Travel Clinic, we send team members for a briefing on how to prevent disease and illness while traveling, and an opportunity to receive recommended vaccinations.
- We institute the “Safety Minute” where teams reflect on possible dangers in any activity several times a day. The essential part of a Safety Moment is to engage as many individuals as possible in the thought process of ‘what could go wrong’ in order to avoid those possible risks.
- We offer team members a list of Traveling Tips that outlines what participants should pack, ways of preventing basic illnesses and accidents while traveling and working.
4. We purchase emergency medical insurance for each team member.
This insurance is part of the cost of the international service trip and is purchased through Wallach and Company, covered by MEDEX HealthCare Global. The insurance includes $250,000 in medical expense benefits, including: accident, sickness, medical evacuation, emergency reunion, repatriation of remains, emergency dental, and $25,000 for accidental death and dismemberment.