It’s 2021 and we need to be serious about keeping up with our health. There are different things for that we should think about doing for different stages of life says Dr. Gale Burstein, Erie County Commissioner of Health.
For kids, she says, it is really important for parents to take their kids to their pediatricians. Pediatrician offices have worked very hard to make to make their offices very safe. Young kids really need to be seen pretty regularly for their vaccines and there are other screenings that are equally important. Developmental screenings just to make sure your child is on track, because if they are not developmentally, and this is actually very common, your kids could be eligible for early interventional services that are free. Also, mental health screenings. We know that kids like adults get really stressed out. There are no stupid questions to ask your pediatrician. Regular visits will make sure your kids stay healthy and nothing falls through the cracks.
Adults need to keep up with their preventive healthcare visits. There are screenings that should be done to promote heart health and making sure everyone is up to date on their immunizations. Adults need immunizations too. In addition to the flu, there is the shingles vaccine, HPV vaccine and those are important immunizations that can prevent very serious diseases.
For seniors you need to have screenings for safety making sure that their house is full proof to protect them from against falls and also screening for memory issues. People up there in years, unfortunately many develop memory problems and dementia so there are good screening tools for that. Your primary care for immunizations and check-ups you need to be there physically, but a lot of problems can be managed by telehealth. People have to figure out how to manage their healthcare this new world of COVID-19. She says we do have a vaccine but the general population probably won’t be able to be vaccinated for months so COVID-19 is still going to be with us for much of this year and so we have to make sure we figure out how we are going to stay healthy much of the year.
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