"But I feel fine" : The Importance of Preventive Care

As a Care Navigator at Norristown Regional Health Center (NRHC), my main role is to outreach to patients who are due for one or more health services.  One of the most common reasons I hear as to why patients do not come to the clinic for an appointment is that they feel fine and don't believe they have a reason to visit the clinic. Many of us, myself included, would probably feel the same way if our doctor's office called today and asked if we wanted to come in for an appointment. In general, this isn't so bad, but it's important to remember that even completely healthy folks should still see their doctor every few years for check-ups and preventive care. Most of us are familiar with check-ups, but what exactly is preventive care? Preventive care encompasses all of the health services that you and your doctor do to help avoid developing health problems in the future and/or to catch any already-developed issues in their early stages. Although it varies by age, these services can include routine check-ups, vaccines, colonoscopies, mammograms, or simply eating healthy to avoid diabetes. However, convincing people that preventive care is necessary and important is a lot easier said than done. After all, if you're feeling perfectly fine, why do you need to undergo a colon cancer screening? A colonoscopy or other screening test can be very expensive, especially if you do not have health insurance. Given that the majority of patients I reach out to are uninsured and don’t believe they have a reason to visit the clinic, I face challenges in expanding their access to the services that NRHC provides.

At NRHC, one of our main initiatives includes working to increase the use of preventive care services in order to create a healthier community. To aid in the progress of this initiative, I am responsible for outreach to high-risk diabetic and hypertensive patients who have missed their 3-month check-ups. I also spend my days reaching out to pediatric patients who are behind on vaccines, while also attempting to get patients who are 50 years or older to undergo a colonoscopy or InSure FIT test (a less expensive but less comprehensive form of colorectal cancer screening).

We have thousands of patients who are behind on one or more forms of preventive care and it's my duty to track and outreach to these patients for their own benefit. Often, a single screening, vaccine, or other test is all it takes to prevent, detect, or assess your risk for a serious issue like cancer or kidney failure. By connecting with patients and educating them on the use of preventive care services, we can help them stay healthy not just in the moment, but also in the future. After being reconnected to our clinic, patients are more likely to not let issues go unnoticed until it's too late and the doctors will be able to educate the patients on the appropriate steps they need to take for their conditions and risk factors.

The importance of preventive care was reinforced during a pre-service training in which we had an opportunity to watch Rebecca Onie’s TED Talk, "What If Our Healthcare System Kept Us Healthy?".  Speaking of a past internship, Rebecca noted,  "I grew frustrated with feeling like we were intervening too far downstream in the lives of our clients -- that by the time they came to us, they were already in crisis."  Out of this frustration she founded her organization, Health Leads, about which she stated, "We started with the prescription pad -- a very ordinary piece of paper -- and we asked, not what do patients need to get healthy -- antibiotics, an inhaler, medication -- but what do patients need to be healthy, to not get sick in the first place?"  This message is precisely the goal of preventive care. Rather than just considering health in the moment, we should consider it in the future too. The decisions you make today can have lasting effects down the road.  So, the next time that someone tells you he or she feels fine and doesn't need to see a doctor, talk to that person about the importance of preventive care, because the old adage, "better safe than sorry," is as true as ever.
 

This blog was written by NHC Philadelphia member Josh Finkel.
Josh serves as a Care Navigator at Deleware Valley Community Health: Norristown Regional Health Center.