[kizibits]

My agency typically only gets blind referrals and I'm wanting to have an independent IA doctor consult via email on trip 1. For those of you who have done the same, when should I be thinking about contracting with the IA doctor-before I get the referral? once I get a travel date? Any advice is welcome!

[Alison_inPA]

kizibits, you might want to talk to at least a couple of IA doctor's offices to find out about their procedures ahead of time. When you finally have your travel dates, you can then choose one based on whether he/she is actually available during the time of your trip. You don't want to be without a back-up if the only one you have contact info for happens to be on vacation or otherwise unavailable when you most need help.

[deere1]

We traveled blind. I contacted and pre-paid our IA doctor before trip 1. They sent packet we took along which included questions to ask at orphanage, tape measure, etc. We were very happy with the IA doctor we chose.

[waxhawfamily]

You don't need much contact with an IA doctor until you are between referral and trip #1. You don't really have anything to say until you get the referral, but you want to have a relationship and plan in place before you get to Russia.

If you haven't gotten the referral yet, you may want to select an IA doctor now, and make a quick phone call to his nurse or receptionist to see if she has any recommendations prior to referral. Sometimes there is paperwork you can fill out and sit on until you get the referral. Also, you wouldn't want to scramble at the last minute if the IA doctor you select isn't seeing new clients when you do call with your referral.

One quick phone call at this point won't hurt anything.

[kimber413]

You will definitely want to contact an IA doctor as soon as you think trip one may be getting close. You may need to talk to a couple before you find one that you are comfortable with, and they'll want to send you a packet of information (questions they'll want answered, lists of photos they'll want to see, etc.) before you travel. So, the sooner the better. If you know approximately when you'll travel, you might also want to mention that to a doctor. Many of the IA docs also go to Russia and other countries to do research or charity work, so they may have times they won't be available. As many as 3 weeks at a stretch.

Good luck!

[Michele007]

We went blind and most of the questions we were told to ask ,the orphanage did not have the answers or they just did not tell us.We did consulte a IA doc prior to trip #1 and she told us what questions to ask-we recieved his medical info. when we got there not before.We took alot of video tape and did somethings like the doc told us to-example:stand behind and clap see if he responds-pay attention to when his caretakers walk by-does he follow them w/ his eyes-put your finger inhis open hand-does he grab it-make funny faces does he respond-we did this every day we saw him-I was a little worried at first because there was not much response from him but by day 4-he was totallay responding-we took that videoto IA doc and had her analyze it-prognosis is great.The only other thing I can say is when you meet your referal-go w/ your gut.

Michele

[kizibits]

Thanks for all the responses! Everyone has pretty much confirmed my understanding of the procedures. Thanks again!

[skling69]

We traveled blind, without any info ahead of time and on short notice about a week and a half. We contacted Dr. Jane Aronson before leaving, she knew our travel dates, and when to be expecting our submittals. She was fast and frank. We had her repsonses back before we went to bed the evening we sent them. The advice to go with your gut is good, she actually just confirmed what we already thought on the two boys we had her evaluate. But I can say getting on the plane and coming home was much easier having the reassurance from her that our son did in fact look okay. To do that we took the lap top and the digital camera, we actually used the phone line in the hotel as a modem line, our facilitator had purchased us an internet access card.