Preventive Care

Why is preventive care so important to one’s overall good health? When diagnosed early enough, many health problems can be managed and possibly even prevented from becoming an issue in the first place. This fact makes preventive health care services an essential part of one’s overall good health plan. Unfortunately, too many people think if they feel fine then they must be healthy. Not necessarily true. Health problems and chronic diseases can affect anyone and without showing symptoms, no matter the age, race, etc.

While everyday living habits should include eating lots of high-nutrition foods and exercising regularly in order to be and stay healthy, regular preventive care is also an essential part of living a healthy life.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Americans use preventive care services at about half the recommended rate.

What exactly is preventive care?

Preventive care services are focused on preventing a number of health problems before they can get worse and is absolutely one of the best ways to stay healthy. Examples of preventive care services include immunizations, wellness visits, screenings, lab work, and physicals.

We provide a wide range of preventive care services!

• Annual physicals for kids and adults
• School physicals
• Sports physicals
• Pre-op physicals
• Pre-employment physicals
• Vaccinations
• PPD

Annual physicals for kids and adults

Early diagnosis is key when it comes to successfully handling health issues, making annual physicals for both kids and adults an important part of being and stay healthy.

For kids: Annual physicals for kids are important and required before they are able to start school. An annual physical for kids includes getting their weight checked, height measured, a BMI calculation, undergoing a vision and hearing test, and receiving necessary immunizations. It can also include a blood pressure check, and screening for anemia and high cholesterol.

For adult: Annual physicals for adults include checking their weight and height, taking their blood pressure, listening to their lungs, listening to their heart rate, and drawing their blood to check for potential health problems. This is the perfect time for adults to ask a medical professional any health-related questions they may have.

School physicals

School physicals are an essential and necessary part of every kid’s health care plan. During a school physical, a medical professional will carefully examine all of that patient’s physical characteristics in order to ensure they are in good health, i.e. height, weight, eyes, ears. A school physical is a great opportunity for a medical professional and parents to come together in order to make sure their kid is indeed on the right track to a healthy future.

Sports physicals

Sports physicals, aka pre-participation physicals, are often required before being able to participate in a chosen sport. A medical professional will first inquire about the patient’s health history and then move on to perform the actual physical examination in order to determine if the patient is indeed healthy enough to participate in a physical sport.

Pre-op physicals

Pre-op physicals are often required before having surgery in order to make sure the patient is completely prepared to undergo surgery. Pre-op physicals can include getting additional X-rays, blood samples, urine samples, lung tests, and heart tests. These tests are able to find any underlying health conditions that the surgeon should be aware of before performing the surgery and needs to be performed two to 30 days before the scheduled surgery date.

Pre-employment physicals

Pre-employment physicals are often required for new employees before they can be officially hired. The reason behind a pre-employment physical is to make sure that the new employee is in good enough health to start working for the company. Pre-employment physicals often require the new employee to fill out a medical questionnaire as well as give blood and/or urine samples.

Vaccinations

Vaccinations are essential when it comes to being protected from a number of serious and even life-threatening diseases. Preventive vaccinations are given to people who are free of infection in order to produce the antibodies that can protect them from getting sick in the future. Vaccinations are one of the best options when it comes to preventive care as it not only protects the person being vaccinated, it also protects the people around them.

PPD

PPD stands for purifying protein derivative and refers to a skin test that is performed in order to determine if someone has or has been exposed to tuberculosis (TB). Because tuberculosis is a highly contagious disease that does not often show symptoms, it is necessary for a patient to get a PPD test in order to determine whether or not they have this deadly disease. The PPD test involves a medical professional using a syringe to put a small amount of the PPD under the patient’s top layer of skin. Two to three days later the medical professional will check the area for a PPD reaction.