Are You Behind on Your Regular Health Screenings?

The long-last­ing impact of patients delay­ing their pre­ven­tive health screen­ings and appoint­ments has con­tin­ued to linger well past the ini­tial year of the COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. In 2020, 32 per­cent of U.S. adults can­celed their annu­al well­ness check­ups and screen­ings. Delay­ing rou­tine health appoint­ments can be detri­men­tal to your health if your con­di­tion wors­ens with­out seek­ing pro­fes­sion­al med­ical help. These impor­tant appoint­ments can help pre­vent, man­age or treat many con­di­tions if caught early.

As the new year begins, it is the per­fect oppor­tu­ni­ty to get your health back on track with the fol­low­ing appointments:

Annu­al Physicals

Annu­al phys­i­cals allow your pri­ma­ry care provider to look over your health his­to­ry and catch any irreg­u­lar­i­ties dur­ing the phys­i­cal exam. With more peo­ple being seden­tary and gain­ing weight because of the pan­dem­ic, a phys­i­cal can be ben­e­fi­cial as your provider can eval­u­ate your nutri­tion and exer­cise habits to help you get your health back on track. Providers can also sched­ule rou­tine blood work and pro­vide refer­rals as necessary. 

School, Sports and Camp Physicals

A phys­i­cal with a Duly provider can give you help­ful insight into your child’s growth and devel­op­ment over the past year. Dur­ing this vis­it, you’ll have a com­pre­hen­sive appoint­ment with a provider you and your child trust and under­stands your family’s health his­to­ry. The State of Illi­nois Cer­tifi­cate of Child Health Exam­i­na­tion form must be sub­mit­ted to your child’s school lead­ing into Preschool, Kinder­garten, Sixth (6^th) Grade, and Ninth (9^th) Grade. Addi­tion­al­ly, new stu­dents from out of state must com­plete a phys­i­cal exam­i­na­tion with­in one cal­en­dar year of the date of entry. Sports Phys­i­cals are required year­ly for all ath­letes par­tic­i­pat­ing in school spon­sored ath­let­ic programs. 

Women’s Well-Vis­its

Women should con­tin­ue to attend a year­ly well-vis­it to under­go a gyne­co­log­i­cal and breast exam. These sim­ple screen­ings can catch can­cer and many oth­er con­di­tions in their ear­ly stages. Patients who are preg­nant or are active­ly try­ing to get preg­nant should also keep their obstet­rics appoint­ments as sched­uled. Pre-natal, intra­partum and post­par­tum care is the key to a healthy mom and baby. 

Can­cer Screenings

Being proac­tive about your health also includes attend­ing sched­uled can­cer screen­ings. Breast, prostate, colon, lung and cer­vi­cal can­cer screen­ings are impor­tant for ear­ly detec­tion. A study found that there was a 46 per­cent decrease in can­cer diag­noses dur­ing the first year of the pan­dem­ic due to skipped and can­celed can­cer screen­ings².

Sched­ule your:

• Mam­mo­gram
• Prostate screen­ing
• Colonoscopy
• Lung can­cer screening
• Pap smear

Der­ma­tol­ogy Visits

Whether you have a skin, hair or nail con­di­tion, der­ma­tol­ogy appoint­ments are impor­tant in treat­ing your con­di­tion before it wors­ens. These appoint­ments can also include skin exams which allow our der­ma­tol­o­gists to exam­ine any moles or skin irreg­u­lar­i­ties that could lead to cancer. 

Can­cer Treat­ment or Dialysis

If you are under­go­ing treat­ment for can­cer, make sure to resched­ule your appoint­ments as soon as pos­si­ble to ensure your treat­ment plan stays on track. Patients with kid­ney dys­func­tion are strong­ly encour­aged to con­tin­ue their dial­y­sis sched­ule to avoid any complications. 

Men­tal Health Visits

With so many of us still lim­it­ing our social inter­ac­tions, it’s impor­tant to address any feel­ings of depres­sion or anx­i­ety that may have become worse. Talk­ing with your pri­ma­ry care doc­tor or a behav­ioral health expert can ensure com­pre­hen­sive health, both men­tal­ly and spiritually. 

Have 2022 be a fresh start for your health and sched­ul­e your appoint­ments online to get your health back on track. 

_{¹Czeisler, M. E., Mary­nak, MPP, K., Clarke, MD, K. E., Salah, MPH, Z., Shakya, MPH, I., Thier­ry, PhD, J. M., … Howard, MBBS, PhD, M. E. (2020, Sep­tem­ber 11). Delay or Avoid­ance of Med­ical Care Because of COVID-19 – Relat­ed Con­cerns — Unit­ed States. In Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion. Retrieved from https://​www​.cdc​.gov/​m​m​w​r​/​v​o​l​u​m​e​s​/​6​9​/​w​r​/​m​m​6​9​3​6​a​4.htm}

_{²Kauf­man, MD, H. W., Chen, MS, Z., & Niles, MA, J. (2029, August 4). Changes in the Num­ber of US Patients With New­ly Iden­ti­fied Can­cer Before and Dur­ing the Coro­n­avirus Dis­ease 2019 (COVID-19) Pan­dem­ic. In JAMA Net­work. Retrieved from https://​jamanet​work​.com/​j​o​u​r​n​a​l​s​/​j​a​m​a​n​e​t​w​o​r​k​o​p​e​n​/​f​u​l​l​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​/​2​7​68946}