Health for the Whole Family

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SFCHC Provides Checkups For Patients of All Ages

Your family: you love them, you’d do anything for them (even on days when they take too long in the bathroom), and if they were in trouble, you’d drop everything to help them.  At San Fernando Community Health Center, there’s a way to make caring for them even easier: by making sure everyone gets regular checkups.

Checkups, or primary care visits, are an effective way to keep tabs on your overall health.  They’re an opportunity to monitor chronic medical conditions like diabetes and spot potential problems early while treatment is still an option.  This often happens when your doctor observes a change that might go unnoticed without medical training, and is another reason that regular visits with your primary care doctor are a good idea.  Dr. Vishaal Buch, Clinical Medical Director for SFCHC, says, “I've found that having a rapport with a patient creates a more open relationship with them. I can see more positive results when it comes to diet, exercise, and other aspects of prevention and lifestyle.”  The better your doctor knows you, the better they can work with you to keep you healthy.

Regular visits can help catch changes in everyone's health before they can become serious.

Checkups are also a great way to stay up to date with age-appropriate screenings and immunizations for all the men and women in your family:

• Have a sexually active teenager or family member in their 20s? Our care providers can screen for STDs and provide education on safe-sex practices.
• Starting in their 20s, women should get pelvic exams at regular intervals, and mammograms are recommended starting in a woman’s 40s. Both are available in our obstetrics and gynecology department.
• Men’s prostate health requires extra attention after they turn 50.
• Have a family member in their 50s living with you (or are you one)? Both men and women at this age can get vaccinated against shingles and should start regular screenings for colorectal cancer.
• The American Dental Association recommends regular visits regardless of age, and SFCHC has your family covered with comprehensive dental services right at our medical center.

Don’t forget the smallest members of your family!  Pediatric care is different from care for adults, but equally important.  Because they’re smaller, infants’ and children’s bodies function differently than those of fully grown adults, and the same phenomenon that makes their feet too big for the shoes you just bought them—the speed at which they grow and change—requires special expertise.  SFCHC’s pediatricians pay particular attention to a child’s physical, mental, and social development while protecting them with age-appropriate immunizations and encouraging healthy habits to keep them strong.

Your family gets checkups. You get to relax.

Even with the compassionate, dedicated care you get from SFCHC’s providers, we understand that checkups aren’t the most fun way to spend your time.  But being sick is even less fun (and more costly!).  In fact, a study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found that periodic health evaluations helped patients worry less over time and more powerfully motivated them to take action regarding their health. So imagine having one less thing to stress about because everyone in your family has had regular checkups, and you can say things like:

“No, hypochondriac uncle, you just saw the doctor. You do not have scurvy.”

Or

“Why, thank you, doctor, in addition to being a genius and a future supermodel, my toddler is exceptionally healthy.”

But of course, the most important reason to keep your family healthy is that you love them, and because you know they need you, you keep yourself healthy, too.  This is the spirit of SFCHC’s mission: to give you the best care through prevention and treatment so that you can give your best care to others.

Author

Heather Hillstrom For several years, Heather Hillstrom has proudly provided copywriting and videography services to support SFCHC's mission of compassionate care for all who need it. She gained much of her experience and education at prominent advertising and marketing firms, with clients in healthcare, real estate, medical technology, and environmental products and activism, among others. Her writing portfolio includes DVD/Blu-ray bonus features for Paramount’s RANGO and Disney’s LOST, nearly all the content for the latter’s companion website Lost University, and a radio and television campaign that aired during the Olympics. She wrote on the multi-award-winning web series NONE IN THE OVEN and her feature script HIT OR STAND was a Second Rounder at Austin Film Festival and a PAGE Awards quarterfinalist. Many of her projects and awards can be viewed at www.hungrypictures.com.