Dr. Dylan’s case for preventative care

Dr. Dylan Wyatt, an emergency medicine physician for St. Luke’s, is making the case for preventative care. He says everyone should prioritize a yearly checkup.

Reason No. 1: Assessments on current health

“Not all health changes occur suddenly. In the emergency room, they tend to. But oftentimes, most processes are slower. They take time. Blood pressure creeps up over time, blood sugar goes up little by little by little, and we gain a little bit of weight every year,” Dr. Wyatt said.

He said without an annual checkup, it’s easy to miss those things.

Reason No. 2: Receive preventative care

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of care, right?” Dr. Wyatt said. “Most problems, whether it’s blood pressure, blood sugar, a wide variety of things, have some way to either mitigate or slow the development of that condition.”

That could be updating medications, vaccinations, or getting screening tests.

Reason No. 3: Get professional guidance

“You hear me saying, we hear it all the time: ‘Ask your doctor if you’re ready to.’ I say all the time, ‘Double check with your doctor.’ Before we start to do things like increasing the amount of exercise we’re doing, certain types of exercise, changing diet, other things like that, it’s really important to double check with your doctor, especially if you have chronic medical conditions,” he said.

Dr. Wyatt suggests writing down any concerns you have or changes you want to make to help you and your doctor collaborate well.