What does Preventive Care actually mean?

What is preventative care? It’s your annual wellness exam, screening tests, and vaccines to help prevent illness. Most insurance plans will cover these tests and procedures, so it should be little to no cost to you. Depending on your age and medical history, certain screening tests may be indicated once a year or less frequently. Let’s go through some tests and shots you may need to stay in the best shape.

Chronic Care

• Hypertension (high blood pressure) – make sure you get your blood pressure checked and if on medication, you want to make sure your liver and kidney function are normal while on the medication
• Diabetes (high blood sugar) – make sure to get your A1c checked, and if you are a diabetic, you also want to get your eyes checked once a year and your kidney function checked as well
• Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol) – make sure to get your cholesterol levels and your liver function checked as well

Cancer Screenings

• Skin Cancer – get a mole check up with your primary care doctor once a year
• Breast Cancer – after age 40, women should get a mammogram done once every 2 years
• Cervical Cancer – all women should get a PAP smear every 3 years until age 35 and then every 5 years assuming you have a negative PAP, otherwise you should go every year
• Colon Cancer – after age 45, everyone should get a colonoscopy once every 10 years

Vaccines

• Flu – it’s not too late! We are having a particularly bad flu season, so protect yourself and your loved ones and get your vaccine
• Covid – the bivalent booster is out and can help protect against Omicron, so come and get your booster today
• Tetanus – get boosted every 10 years
• HPV (Human Papillomavirus; against cervical cancer) – available to men and women by age 26

All these screenings and shots can be done at your Annual Physical/wellness exam, where you and your doctor will discuss your personal and family history to make sure you are doing all the right things to stay healthy. So go ahead and schedule your annual physical visit with us here at Radish!