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| Health Checks
Getting a Physical ALTs are required to take a government-sponsored medical check-up each year at school (see below). However, if youfd also like to have an annual physical done, many clinics offer a variety of different checks. The most thorough physicals are known as ningen-dokku lÔhbN, basically meaning ghuman dry-dockh. Ningen-dokku usually isnft covered by National Health Insurance and can take from an hour or two, to an overnight visit, depending on the checks you want to take. They can include the usual blood-work, urine tests, etc. plus X-rays, CT-scans, bone-density checks, body-fat composition scans, etc. If you want to get a ningen-dokku check, ask around for prices/recommendations, or try one of the recommended ALT clinics. They may be able to do the checks or refer you somewhere. Generally though, if you are taking the annual workplace check, a separate physical shouldnft be necessary unless you want additional tests done. US-certified Physicals If applying for jobs in the USA, or for a visa to live and work in the USA, you may have get a physical done by a US government-approved physician (i.e. a doctor with a US medical license). There is one listed in Tokyo: Watanabe Naika clinic Tokyo, Chuo-ku, Ginza 8-4-26 Iwaki Building. 4th floor 03-3574-9103 Accessible from the Shimbashi Station Exit #5. There are two doctors working in the practice, but only one of them has a US license. When calling for an appointment, explain that you need to have a health-check carried out by a US-licensed doctor. Annual Workplace Health Checks Every year there are government-sponsored medical check-ups in all schools, generally in the fall for JHS and April for SHS. Government employees are all required to undertake the annual health check. New JETs are exempt from taking the school health check in their first year, as they undertook an equivalent health check for their applications. All second-year and above ALTs are required to take the health check each year. Your school nurse should tell you about your health check in advance, and warn you what to prepare. There is usually a questionnaire for you to complete, detailing your health and lifestyle habits, and any illnesses you may have had. On the day of the check-up one or two big white buses will arrive at your school. These buses contain x-ray machines that are used to examine the chest for tuberculosis. Teachers usually form an orderly line inside the school sick bay and go through each test in turn. The first is often a urine analysis. This involves handing a sample to a nurse who then up-ends it over a litmus tape into a bucket that will be used for the samples of all the other teachers waiting in line. Other checks include weight, height, blood pressure and eyesight to name a few. A word of warning ladies: the check of your heart rate and lungs is done in a different way from what you may be used to! You will be called to a curtained-off area of the school nurse's room, where the doctor and another nurse are waiting. Generally they don't wait for you to undress; some ALTs have been very startled by the nurse pulling up their shirts to start the stethoscope exam without warning! You should make sure to wear a bra with no underwire or you will have to remove it for the X-ray. Often in Japan women will remove their bra for the heart exam, but if you wear a bra without underwire, you should be okay, and not have to undergo the exam with a cold stethoscope, topless! Wear a loose fitting t-shirt, not something with buttons, to facilitate the heart/lung exam. You should get the results of your health check in sealed envelope a few weeks later, with recommendations on any lifestyle changes you need to make (Japanese only). If any serious health problems are discovered, such as heart irregularities, diabetes, etc., you may be asked to have further checks and/or treatment. Reproductive and Sexual Health Checks For information on STD/HIV testing, see Sexual Health For information on cancer screening (breast and uterine), see Womenfs Health |