It’s not just the single or married folks that are hitting the road in medical travel; many are taking their entire family along for the ride. Travel companies are very cooperative about accommodating parents who wish to bring their children with them on their assignments. Although the usual travel accommodations are a one bedroom apartment, they will be happy to arrange for a two or three bedroom apartment or condominium to house your entire family.
While you will have to absorb some added expense for the additional space, the add-on charge is usually quite reasonable. Some families even opt to accept a housing stipend instead of a supplied apartment and travel in a personal RV stocked with all their personal items and everything they need to be comfortable.

The most often asked question surrounding traveling with a family is how to provide schooling for your child or children while on the road. The creativeness of travelers in this department continues to amaze and inspire me. One very workable approach is to home school your children while you are on assignment. With so many resources for parents in this area including support groups in almost every town (allowing your child to have socialization opportunities with other children) as well as support forums online, home schooling quickly becomes a very viable option.

A married couple I got to know, both of whom were ultrasound technologists, had an adorable young daughter that traveled with them. They often rotated working assignments on the road while the other one stayed home with their little girl. This not only kept them together as a family, but allowed each spouse to have a break from the medical work routine while spending time with their child. This is an example of an ideal circumstance for home schooling as well as a balanced family life.

For those that find home schooling too daunting for one reason or another, there are still other ways to arrange for proper schooling. Some assignments can last for nine months and thus allow a child to attend a full year in a school in the same town where the parent is working a travel position. The family can then move to a three month assignment for the summer. Other families switch assignments during the holiday break or between semesters.

One other option is to only accept travel assignments within several hours drive of your permanent residence. That way one spouse can oversee the children at their normal local school while the traveling spouse returns on their days off. The point is there are many ways to make family life work while benefiting from all the financial rewards of medical travel.

John Douglas Ryder

medical travel