What is Preventive Care and How Do I Take Part?
Preventive Care Definition and Ways to Get Started
By Tara Dontje, Quality Care Coordinator
If you’ve spent any time reading up on health and wellness information, you’ve encountered the term “preventive care.” preventive care is any health-related activities in which you initiate to build general health and wellness before a health issue occurs.
You might imagine that preventive care is a hot topic as curative care often can often be costly and can negatively affect your quality of life as you work to treat issues that could have been prevented by lifestyle changes.
Although going to the doctor is commonly thought of as a curative care task, it can have a significant benefit in identifying potential health issues and working to make changes that stave them off.
By creating healthy habits like eating well and exercising regularly, preventive care shifts the focus of healthcare from treating illness to maintaining wellness. The first step in a solid preventive care regimen is having screenings or tests done that can identify pre-illness.
Preventive care checklist
As preventive care is going to be different for everybody depending on your unique physical, genetic and medical history traits, there is no singular regimen that has everything. Rather, preventive care entails thinking about health and wellness differently and, with the use of tests and screenings, asking how you can best work against potential health issues for which you may be predisposed due to factors like age and genetics.
Here are some items any preventive care program is likely to feature.
- Everyday healthy habits, especially those recommended by your doctor
- An annual checkup with your personal doctor
- Recommended health screenings
- Immunizations on the CDC-recommended schedule
Preventive care visits help your personal doctor detect potential problems as well as determine if family history or lifestyle choices could affect your health in the future. In that way, each visit becomes a fork in the road where you are likely to leave with clearly-communicated choices you can make to ensure your future is as healthy and full as is possible.
Your personal doctor will recommend how often you should see them and what screenings and immunizations you may need. Preventive care is very important to your lifelong health. Talk to your personal doctor to determine the best care for you.
If you have any questions about preventive care programs available through the Network Health wellness team or are curious about other ways your Network Health plan can help you live the best and most full life at any age, contact us today.
