Arcadia New Zealand

When I was about to go abroad my mother and I sat down to create small rules for myself. Some of them were simple like: “don’t walk down alleys later than 2am” or “charge your phone before going on an adventure.” I would like to add one more to those rules. Rule 23: If one decides to join an Ice Hockey team when they have no experience with Ice hockey, remember to not go behind the net during warm ups. 

Why such a specific rule, you may ask. Well, as with all, rules are created because someone does something stupid that changes the way people think about things. In my case, that “something stupid” caused some problems. 

It was our third or fourth practice, and I was getting the hang of hockey. 

With my Roller Derby experience, I found ice skating to be relatively easy. The moves are almost equivalent, and it’s much easier to turn and stop on ice skates than roller skates. 

So, I was warming up with all my gear on, going through similar motions as I would during my roller derby practice. One of my warm ups for roller derby is skating around the rink, that way I can go through crossovers and backwards and everything else that’s basic in one go. 

Turns out there is a big difference between Roller Derby warm ups and Ice Hockey warm ups, the puck. This little, burnt hamburger, is flying around; specifically, flying around the nets. 

As I am skating around trying to warm up, I pass behind the net. At the time I thought nothing of it, I passed by the first net already and nothing happened. As I just pass the middle of the net, WHAM!!

It’s important to note, when I’m on skates, and not crouching, I’m about 5’5. Ice Hockey nets are 4 feet tall. So, if someone were to, say, narrowly miss the net. The trajectory would land the puck at, around, 5 feet off the ground. When I’m sideways, this trajectory aligns perfectly with the area between my ear and my ramus. Which, also, just so happens to be right under where my helmet ends. 

It was dark as I felt time stand still. I felt my back left molar shatter and a tingle as energy went up my jaw. 

As I hit the floor, luckily never going unconscious, my teammates rushed around me. I guess it must have looked bad, as there were about 3 people surrounding me and others were looking at me. I started blowing out little pieces of teeth as the people around me started asking questions on how I felt. 

I’ll admit, when it comes to my health problems, I am stubborn. I am a licensed EMT and have seen a lot of medical problems that I could fix. 

I didn’t say anything to anyone and just got up and skated as fast as I could to my locker room. I looked in my mouth to make sure there was nothing bleeding or poking out, I knew I was going to be okay. My friend, I’ll call M, asked if I could let our health advisor in. I stubbornly said no, which was a blunder on my end as he could have seen something I couldn’t. 

I sighed, took some Ibuprofen, and went back out on the ice. I didn’t want my teammates to think I was weak or something, which, looking back, was a very childish way of me to think. 

Throughout practice some of my teammates would ask about me, but I told them I was fine as I didn’t have any brain problems and “the puck just hit some muscles.” 

As we rode back, the situation got worse. I have motion sickness, and conveniently ran out of medication on the last bus ride. I also have a condition where I might get random bursts of extreme pain in my abdominal region. 

As the stars of pain aligned, I was not feeling my best. I got off the bus with my head spinning, my ibuprofen for my jaw wearing off, my stomach turning itself inside out, and my abdomen feeling like it was getting stabbed over and over again. 

In areas like this, I know what to do. I get into a stance that aligns myself correctly. However, this stance doesn’t work the best when your head is spinning and your muscles are very tired. My friends, noticing I’m leaning down and forward, get the attention of our captain and help me sit down where I can breathe correctly. They help me with my medication for my pain and our captain runs to get an ice pack for me. 

I did not want to go to the hospital, but I was ordered to by my captain, so there was nothing I could really do. He called 999, and was told it would be 4 hours until an ambulance got to our location. So, me and two of my friends were sent to the local hospital via taxi cab. 

It didn’t take long for me to be put into triage, the first step of the emergency room. There I had the choice of staying or refusing treatment. With everything back to normal in my system, I felt no need to stay in the hospital. 

I am grateful to my friends, captain, and health advisor. They were very helpful and didn’t have to do what they did. 

The hard part came later. I needed to get my teeth fixed. It hurt when I chewed, swallowed, and sometimes when I talked. I had emailed the Scottish branch of Arcadia, updating them on my situation. They told me to contact International SOS.

The number for International SOS and Arcadia’s account number are on the card given to you when you first arrive. It should have a picture on the front and a lot of numbers on the back for emergency services. 

International SOS will create a claim for you and will make sure to get your information regarding what happened, what’s needed to fix it, and what your time frame is. Once you finish your call, they’ll give you a claim number and will email you later with further questions. 

About 10 hrs to 15 hrs later, if not an emergency, they will email you about an appointment they’ve set up with a provider in your area that takes their insurance. It might be out of your city, for example mine was in Edinburgh, but it’s worth it. 

Your appointment will be covered by them and you will not have to pay anything to the doctor or Arcadia. It’s a wonderful system. 

Turns out, I had chipped 3 teeth and slightly shattered my back molar. X-rays also showed that I had a fracture in my mandible. The dentist filled in my teeth and I was on my way.

It was an interesting experience, to say the least, to have my jaw fractured and to have my teeth chipped and slightly shattered. Arcadia and International SOS were kind, fast, and reliable through the whole experience. 

Even though I continued to play Ice Hockey after my injury, I’m forever grateful and thankful that Arcadia has an insurance plan for students studying abroad.

You never know what might happen, and that’s okay. There’s always going to be something to catch you while abroad. Don’t go too crazy, but know you’ve got the programs needed in case something does go wrong.