Students fall, get into car accidents and break bones whether they are at Ball State University or studying in another country, but Ball State wants to make sure they are taken care of regardless of their location.
Accidents, like when Chris Horner broke his neck two weeks ago while studying at the Australian Centre, bring safety issues on campus and on school trips to the university community's attention, Jim Coffin, director of the Rinker Center for International Studies, said. However, these accidents do not happen often, he said.
"It's the law of average," he said. "They don't come up very often. We may have a couple of things in a year, and then go five or 10 years without."
Horner broke his neck while body surfing and is in a hospital with his mother. He has controlled movement in most of his body with some difficulty moving his left side, Horner said.
In 1995, a student was paralyzed after he climbed over a wall and fell into a briar patch while studying at the London Center, Coffin said. And in 1998, a student died after falling asleep while driving during the Southwest trip, he said. Coffin was a director on that trip.
As people are raising money to help Horner with medical expenses, people from the university and the community raised $16,000 for a scholarship in honor of the student who died in 1998.
In the case of accidents like these, Ball State requires all students participating in school-sponsored trips out of the country to purchase an International Student ID Card, Coffin said. Beside providing a second form of identification and discounts on things like travel, it assists with expenses for hospitalization, travel delay and emergency medical transportation.
All students traveling out of the country can purchase the card, whether or not they are going on a university-sponsored trip. The card costs $24.
"I've had one patient advocate came in, and she asked me a couple questions and asked if I have insurance," Lisa Horner, Chris Horner's mother, said. "I haven't heard from her since and so I guess it's not a big issue."
If the insurance company gives approval, the emergency medical transportation will cover expenses up to $300,000 for Horner to travel back the United States once he is released from Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane. It would cover costs for the plane, medical staff, medicine and other expenses necessary to transport Chris Horner back safely, Coffin said.
"In Chris' case, he may have to be brought home on his back and most commercial flights don't have that, even in first class," he said.
The flyer for the coverage included with the ISIC said it provides $165 a day for hospital benefit for up to 61 days, which is longer than Chris Horner said he expected to be in the hospital.
"It's going to be quite a recovery period," he said. "Anywhere from four to six weeks I'm going to have to be down here before I can be transported just so they can see that my backbone has been healed."
The insurance can also be used by students for small accidents, Coffin said. Ball State's International Center does not have accurate records on just how often students get hurt less seriously because the students often do not report those injuries, Coffin said.
"Not only do students get hurt, they misbehave," he said.
If drugs or alcohol are involved, or if students go to the hospital for a short visit, he said, they do not always report it to the trip director.
Because problems do occur, Coffin said, not all professors are willing to take students on study-abroad trips.
"There are a few professors here who love this stuff and are willing to take students anywhere in the world." Coffin said. "But there's a lot who don't want that liability. They don't want to be in [a situation] with an injured student."
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