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Caitlin Whyte: Welcome to Holly HealthCast, monthly wellness podcast from Holly Health. Your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Every month on our podcast, we address a new topic important to your health, bringing in expert doctors, therapists, and specialists who offer advice and answer your most pressing questions.

Every April, we celebrate World Health Day. So today, we're talking about one of the most important topics for world health, preventative care. Both here in America and globally, vaccines, screenings, medication adherence, and other types of preventative care help keep people healthy and prevent life-threatening illnesses. As they say, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Here with us today is Dr. Nicole Florence, Medical Director and bariatrician at Memorial Medical Center Weight Loss and Wellness Center in Springfield, Illinois. Welcome, Dr. Florence. It's so nice to have you here with us today. Let's jump right in.

We're discussing five key things to know about preventative healthcare. So doctor, number one, before we dig into the different types of preventative care and services, perhaps we can discuss preventative care in general. What do doctors mean when they say preventative care and why is it so important to people here in America and across the globe?

Nicole Florence, MD: Right. So preventative care is so important. And what it means is how can we prevent a disease from occurring? You know, if we can prevent it from happening, obviously we're going to keep our patients a lot healthier. And also, if we are able to detect an issue early, that will allow us to maybe intervene and improve the overall quality as well as maybe the quantity of life of that patient.

A lot of times I explain it like a house. It has structure, it has foundation, electricity, plumbing, all those things that we need to allow our house to function. And the preference would be that if we can prevent something happening in any of those areas or even prevent a house fire, for instance, I would assume most folks would want that to happen. So it's really important in order to keep you overall healthy and well in the long-term.

Caitlin Whyte: Well, thank you so much for giving us that helpful overview, which leads us to the key topic of number two. Now, vaccines are perhaps the most well-known type of preventative care, and they've definitely been in the news a lot lately. So what are the most important vaccines that everyone should get?

Nicole Florence, MD: So a lot of times, it depends on your age. Now as adults, we definitely recommend that you get a flu vaccine every single year. And as we get older, again, depending on your age, over 50 or even older than 65, there are vaccines that can prevent pneumonia, bacteria or infections. And so, a Prevnar or a Pneumovax would be important to get in order to prevent that.

Caitlin Whyte: Now, speaking of vaccines, we of course need to talk about the new COVID-19 vaccines. The entire world is still in the midst of a pandemic. Why are the new COVID-19 vaccines so important for us and for all communities around the world?

Nicole Florence, MD: Well, as we have all seen, you know, this virus causes moderate to even severe disease, causing hospitalization. We see a lot of folks that have issues even after having the illness and, of course, worst of all is the multiple deaths that we are seeing. If we can use this vaccine to prevent infection, to prevent transmission, then hopefully we can prevent all of these illnesses and hospitalizations and, yes, deaths that are occurring worldwide.

Also, hopefully, it will get us that much closer to getting back to our old normal. Although I would say it's probably going to be a new normal where we have a little bit more freedom and being able to do things publicly and among each other.

Caitlin Whyte: Well, such important information. Thank you, Dr. Florence. Moving on to other types of preventative care, for key topic number four, can you tell us a bit about preventative screenings and tests?

Nicole Florence, MD: So there are numerous screenings and tests that your provider can give you. For instance, you may need to have blood work looking at your cholesterol, which can help us clue in any risk for heart disease; a colonoscopy, depending on your age, to look for any early signs and detect colon cancer.

We also have mammograms, bone densities for women, Pap smears, all of these, which will help us possibly detect a problem such as an early cancer and intervene earlier, which may help this patient just in terms of their quality of life, as well as their quantity of life.

Caitlin Whyte: And last but not least, number five, medication adherence. So what do we mean when we say medication adherence and how can it help prevent health problems?

Nicole Florence, MD: So when your primary care doctor gives you a medication, it's always important to know first off, why am I taking it? Which disease process? And also, you want to know the specific directions. Medications work in so many ways. It's important to know should I take it with food? Without food? Are there particular times of day that would make it more effective? And how many times of day? Because if you are going to use the medication, you want to make sure that you're doing everything within your power to make it more effective.

Caitlin Whyte: Well, Dr. Florence, is there anything else you'd like to add to this conversation about vaccines, medical adherence and preventative care?

Nicole Florence, MD: I think it's also important for patients to know their numbers. And what do I mean by that? It's understanding, you know, what is my blood pressure? Is this where my goal should be? What is my weight? And is this a weight that is promoting, you know, my health overall? What is my pulse rate? Am I at risk for diabetes? So I think knowing those numbers and even monitoring those, even outside of your primary care physician's office, is really important and can help you improve your health and wellness overall.

Caitlin Whyte: Such important information and advice. Thank you so much, Dr. Florence. An ounce of prevention truly is worth a pound of cure. And thank you for all you do at Memorial Health System in Springfield and beyond.

That concludes today's Holly HealthCast. Tune in next month as we tackle yet another topic important to your health and wellbeing. And remember, Holly Health is your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Visit holly.com for resources, information, tips, and much more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and well. Thanks for listening. We hope you tune in next month.