Starting the New Year Right: Routine Screenings
The New Year is a time for hope, new beginnings, and lots of planning. But before you can make any of those dreams a reality, you need to take care of your health. Routine screenings help monitor your health and detect conditions early on, saving you or your loved ones from serious health problems down the road.
Routine Checkups and Screenings Help Monitor Health
Seniors should get regularly screened by their doctor to ensure they are happy and healthy. Specifically, doctors should be checking and monitoring their blood pressure and cholesterol levels, assessing their risk of developing heart disease and diabetes, giving them all necessary immunizations (such as flu shots), and performing the tuberculosis screening test.
When you visit your doctor for checkups and screenings, they will check your weight, blood pressure, heart rate, breathing, blood sugar, and cholesterol levels, among other things. Depending on your age, sex, and lifestyle, they may also recommend additional tests and screenings like colonoscopies or mammograms. These screenings are typically performed at least once per year but can be done more often, depending on the individual’s needs and situation.
Benefits of Receiving Routine Screenings
Now, let’s take a look at the benefits of receiving routine checkups and screening tests as part of senior care.
Keeping Up-To-Date With Medications
As a person’s body changes, so do their medication needs. Regular screenings allow your doctor to ensure that your medications are still meeting your specific needs, so be honest about how they make you feel and any relevant side effects you may be experiencing. For example, your blood pressure medication might need to be adjusted if your blood pressure readings become higher or lower than usual.
Determine Potential Future Health Risks
By keeping up to date with routine screenings, doctors will be able to identify any potential health risks early on and take preventative measures so you and your aging loved one can enjoy their sunset years for years to come. Below, we’ll outline some of the most common screenings you should receive every year. By following these guidelines, you’ll be on your way to a healthy and happy New Year!
- Mammography: Mammograms are one of the most important screenings that women can do. By checking for breast cancer early on, you can save lives by catching the disease at an early stage.
- Blood Pressure Check: Keeping track of your blood pressure is key for overall health and preventing heart disease and stroke. Getting checked regularly will help you catch any changes in your blood pressure over time and take appropriate action accordingly.
- Colonoscopy: A colonoscopy is a screening procedure that checks for potential problems inside your large intestine (colon). If there are any abnormalities detected during the screening procedure, get in touch with your doctor for further instructions.
- Glaucoma Screening: Glaucoma is an eye disease that can cause permanent blindness if left untreated. By getting screened for glaucoma regularly, you can avoid this fate and live a longer life free from sight problems.
- Thyroid Screening: Thyroid disorders are one of the most common causes of death among women aged 50 or older. By getting screened regularly for thyroid issues, you can catch them early on and take appropriate action before they become serious problems.
- Diabetes Screening: Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects both men and women. If left untreated, diabetes can lead to serious health complications – including heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, blindness, amputations, and more.
Identify Health Concerns Sooner
Screenings help identify health concerns as soon as possible, giving you a better chance of recovering from any diseases or health problems. For example, regular checkups and screenings can help to detect health issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, certain types of cancers, cholesterol levels, heart disease, and HIV infection. It is also important to keep track of your current immunizations, as certain vaccinations require boosters, so be sure to get all of the vaccinations recommended by your doctor.
Promote Healthy Living
Eating healthy, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep are all key components to leading a healthy lifestyle. Small changes such as incorporating fresh fruits and vegetables into meals, adding an extra 10 minutes of walking into your daily routine, and making time for a full 8 hours of sleep every night can be highly beneficial to your mental and physical health.
In knowing all of your potential health concerns and disease risk factors, you can create a comprehensive health plan customized to your individual health needs, allowing you to live an enjoyable and healthy lifestyle. So, by keeping up with routine screenings you are more aware and in control of your health, which helps you to lead a healthier life.
How Care Managers Can Help
Senior care managers can help your aging loved ones maintain peak senior health and independence. By providing valuable services such as medication management, geriatric assessments, and personalized senior care plans, your aging loved one will remain as healthy and happy as they can be.
In addition, care managers are responsible for monitoring and evaluating the quality of care and satisfaction received from other relevant healthcare providers, such as the family doctor. This helps to ensure that seniors are treated fairly by all healthcare professionals and that their individual healthcare needs are being met and their concerns are being heard.
Finally, care managers can also help by advocating for patients’ best interests and directing care’s focus on result-oriented outcomes.
Getting Started Today
Health is an important aspect of providing continual aged care, but it’s not just about looking good on the outside. It’s also important to maintain good health on the inside, starting with regular screenings. By getting screened regularly for health conditions in the present, you can avoid serious complications down the road.
Here at Reflections Management and Care, our skilled team of care managers makes it easy for you and your aging loved ones to keep up with routine health screenings. From collaborating with your loved one’s current healthcare team to providing you and your loved one with the necessary resources to develop a personalized care plan that meets their individual needs, we will always advocate for the best senior care.
If you believe your aging loved one would benefit from our care management and related services, reach out to us today to determine if we’re the right fit for your family’s needs.
