Daily Preparedness

Ben Franklin is quoted as having said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” This old adage is as true today as it was back when Mr. Franklin was alive! And it certainly applies to a key area of preparedness—maintaining our physical bodies.

“Currently, about 95% of health care dollars in the United States are spent on treating diseases, with relatively little attention paid to preventing diseases, which should be a national priority,” states former U.S. Surgeon General David Satcher, MD, PhD. Dr. Satcher chaired a panel of 24 experts that ranked health screening and counseling suggestions. The screenings and counseling suggestions were scored on two factors:

• Disease, injury, and premature death that would be prevented if the service was delivered at recommended intervals over a lifetime.
• Cost effectiveness.

“Basically, these are the preventive health services that offer the biggest bang for the buck,” says Satcher.

The list starts with the most highly rated services, but many services had tied scores. For instance, three services earned the top score of 10; six earned the second-place score of eight. To compare rankings, check the services’ scores.

• Discussing daily aspirin use in men aged 40 and older, women aged 50 and older, and others at increased risk for heart disease to help prevent cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke: 10
• Childhood immunizations: 10
• Screening adults for tobacco use and providing brief counseling to help them quit using tobacco: 10
• Colorectal cancer screening among adults aged 50 and older: 8
• Measuring blood pressure in all adults and using high blood pressure medicines to prevent cardiovascular disease: 8
• Influenza immunization for adults aged 50 and older: 8
• Pneumococcal immunization for people aged 65 and older: 8
• Screening adults about alcohol use and providing brief counseling with follow-up: 8
• Vision screening for adults aged 65 and older: 8
• Cervical cancer screening (Pap smears) among women who have been sexually active: 7
• Cholesterol screening and lipid-lowering drugs, if needed, for men aged 35 and older, women aged 45 and older with other risk factors for coronary heart disease: 7
• Breast cancer screening for women aged 50 and older; discussions and options to start screening at aged 40-49: 6
• Screening sexually active women under age 25 for chlamydia, the most common sexually transmitted bacterial disease in the U.S.: 6
• Counseling adolescent and adult women to use calcium supplements to prevent fractures: 6
• Vision screening in children less than 5 years old: 6
• Folic acid supplementation to help prevent birth defects: 5
• Obesity screening: 5
• Depression screening: 4
• Hearing screening: 4
• Injury prevention counseling: 4
• Osteoporosis screening: 4
• Cholesterol screening for high-risk adults: 2
• Diabetes screening: 2
• Diet counseling: 2
• Tetanus-diphtheria booster vaccination: 2

Though the list was aimed at healthcare providers, encouraging them to take on a preventative role, there are many of these items that we can adapt into our lifestyle immediately. It is interesting to note that those fully living the gospel need not worry about some of the items, such as alcohol, tobacco and STD’s.

Take charge of your health today. Ask your doctor which of these screening tests apply to you.