The PC Medical Clearance Process

While I am sure each experience is different, for me the most difficult process of joining Peace Corps was the medical clearance process. The difficulties I experienced were compounded by living abroad and being uninsured but even so, many of my cohort faced great difficulties and expenses related to medical clearance. I am devoting this post to discussing what the medical clearance process entails.

I began my medical clearance process while in Shanghai. This greatly complicated everything because I needed to find doctors who could speak English and then I had to have the lab results translated into English. It became further complicated because not all of the tests and immunizations were available in China. Some of the issues I faced might only be experienced by someone applying from abroad and some were pretty universal difficulties.

To begin with, when you accept your invitation your medical application portal will open with a variety of tasks to complete. These tasks will contain minimal instructions and a deadline. While it is in your best interest to complete them as timely as possible, if you are experiencing difficulties you can message your nurse on the med portal and get an extension for the task or advice on how to complete it. Your nurse is there to be your advocate, though it is easy to associate him/her with a roadblock to getting to your service. Try to work with your nurse rather than feeling like you are fight them. This can be hard when facing repeated bureaucracy issues and being told over and over that tasks are completed incorrectly. And this will likely happen to you. Make sure you start as early as possible for this reason.

The first task I attempted to complete was the dental task. I found an English speaking doctor and went to my appointment. Unfortunately the results of my appointment weren't acceptable to PC medical. You need very specific x-rays from your dentist. These x-rays must be a full mouth series or a Panorex with bitewings. I got a Panorex without bitewings and this didn't qualify. You will also need your dentist to fill out a periodontal evaluation which many dentists will try to tell you you don't need. You do. I had to get a second very expensive appointment with another dentist to do everything correctly.

I then tried getting my physical done. This also had endless complications. I had to see a general physician as well as specialists. Some tests weren't available and some immunizations weren't offered. The language barrier and need to translate results was also aggravating. In fact I had to bring a male friend who spoke Chinese and English along to my gyn appointment to translate for me since I couldn't find an English-speaking gyn. It was a very special experience. I also got the impression that, due to our very similar physical appearances, that the nurses thought we were inappropriately close siblings. I had to finish the exam in the States were the final immunization boosters and G6PD titer (this is a test for a genetic disorder that doesn't show up in many populations) was available. Your doctor might try to tell you that you don't need certain tests done. If it is on the physical paperwork then you need it. The PC medical staff does not seem to have any leeway to let things slide.

At the end of the day the medical clearance process cost me $1,658 excluding translation, fedex, and transportation costs. It also took about four months. Some of my cohort got through medical spending under $200 if they were insured, in the States, and had no extra medical procedures. Others of my cohort found out that they had serious, expensive dental work that had to be done before they would be cleared.

Your experience could be anywhere in between depending on the details but don't underestimate the potential expense and time of your medical clearance process! There are also many resources compiled online that you might want to check out to mitigate the costs of the physical or dental exams.

Peace Corps Timeline

One for the first questions a new applicant has about the Peace Corps process is "how long did it take". Unfortunately, there is no one answer to this question. Some people receive an interview almost immediately and some wait for many months. I suspect there are many reasons for this and not all of them have to do with your qualifications as an applicant as much as your placement officer and perhaps general luck. This is my experience.

Submitted Application 7/27/14
Country Assignment Form 7/27/14
Health History Form Received and Reviewed 7/30/14
Placed Under Consideration for Sierra Leone and Interview Scheduled 8/14/14
Interview 8/25/14
2nd Interview 09/08/14
Switched Consideration from Sierra Leone (program suspended) to Comoros 11/04/14
Follow-Up Questions by email 12/02/14
Invitation 12/03/14
Medical Clearance 04/09/14
Staging 06/08/15

It took about three week from applying until my first interview. A second interview was scheduled after we discovered a misunderstanding about when I wanted to leave for service. After my second interview it took about three months to receive my official invitation. Of course, this timeline is a little different since my original program didn't open. Sometimes when this happens a future volunteer is forced to start the application process over. Thankfully that didn't happen. Because they interviews are recorded I didn't have to interview for Comoros beyond answering a few specific questions via email. I believe all invitations for Comoros went out at nearly the same time (early December) but that is not always the case. Sometimes an invitation can go out right after the interview even before the application deadline and some can go out on the know-by-date. It seems to depend on your placement officer and your competitiveness. You'll hear the same advice over and over. Each process is a little different and all you can do it wait.