# Updating Medical



## PrettyMaggie63 (6 Jul 2012)

I am curious about the medical approval procedure and really hope someone can answer my question. Please, please do not jump all over me if this has been asked before.
I updated my medical about 3 weeks ago, was told it would be sent to Ottawa, and was advised to call in about 2 weeks to check on the status, so I called today. I was told "it has been forwarded to Toronto for air factor so it is still being processed".  
Does this mean it has been approved by Ottawa for a "standard occupation" and now needs to be approved by Toronto for an "air crew occupation" ?
I have applied for both RMS Clerk (first choice) and AC op (second choice).


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## medicineman (7 Jul 2012)

Yes.

MM


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## Medic5262 (7 Jul 2012)

I haven't worked in the medical side of recruiting for years, and the procedures always change, so I can't give you a really specific answer - but I can give you some basic background based on how it used to be about 5 yrs ago...

Basically, everyone in the military is given a 6 number "medical category", and your enrolment medical is designed to gather the info for your first approved category (which if you get in, you'd have to renew every few years).  The person who conducted your medical uses the info from all your testing and medical history, and recommends the category based on a bunch of rules...and then sends that recommendation off to the head "Recruiting Medical Officer" in Ottawa who has to give the final thumbs up before the category is official.  There's one minimum category just to get in, and another for each individual trade, which is usually somewhat higher.

If, however, someone is going for a non-aircrew trade, and has no real health issues, sometimes they're lucky enough that they'd have the medics recommend the "ideal" medical category of 111225.  The last number is your "air factor" and specifies what role you can have in being aboard any aircraft (5 means you can be a passenger, which is good enough for most, but you need a smaller number for different aircrew trades).  In these cases, sometimes the applicant is allowed to enrol while the file is still in Ottawa, waiting for approval - on the assumption it's going to be good to go.  This only happens sometimes, and only with people applying for non-aircrew trades.

However, the medical personnel at the recruiting centre aren't qualified to assign an air factor, so for anyone going for an aircrew trade, the process is a lot more convoluted.  I won't even begin to guess at the latest rules.  But if I was going to make a suggestion, I'd say you should contact your file manager and ask to talk to the medical folks.  I'd ask them whether your recommended medical category is good enough for RMS, and whether it'd still need approval from Ottawa before you could be enrolled.  Basically, separate your two choices and ask them where you stand medically for one, versus the other.

Sorry if that's at all confusing...but I hope it's useful background.


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