Preventive Medicine
You can work to avoid disease and illness through preventative medicine. Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar, Family Medicine Specialist, discusses preventative medicine.
Featuring:
Vijay Mahendrakar, MD
Vijay Mahendrakar, MD received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from Kamineni Institute of Medical Sciences in India where he passed with distinction in Biochemistry and Pharmacology. He then later completed his Family Medicine residency program at University Health, an academic hospital and proud clinical partner of the distinguished LSU Health Shreveport School of Medicine. He is an active member of the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Medical Association and received accolades during his tenure in medical school for his Tsunami relief fund efforts in Louisiana. Transcription:
Prakash Chandran (Host): So it feels like we go to the doctor only when injury or illness strikes, but there’s actually a field called preventative medicine that focuses on making sure we live a healthy lifestyle so we might avoid unnecessary disease or disability. Let’s talk with Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar, a family medicine specialist at Pioneers Health Center. This is Pioneers Memorial Health Talk, the podcast from Pioneers Memorial Hospital. I’m Prakash Chandran. So first of all, Dr. Mahendrakar, tell us a little bit about what you do at Pioneers Health Center.
Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar (Guest): So first of all, thank you for having me here. So we basically provide a range of services including routine health physicals, health screening, diagnosing and treating chronic diseases. We also emphasize on health education and counseling on lifestyle modification here. I do refer some patients to specialists for some serious conditions beyond my expertise. We also take walk-ins for managing pain, common cold, sinusitis, urinary tract infections, and other acute problems.
Host: Okay, so I’ve also heard that one of the things that you cover is preventative medicine. So maybe talk a little bit about what the field of preventative medicine is and why it is so important.
Dr. Mahendrakar: Preventative medicine basically means focusing on health maintenance, physical well being, and prevention of diseases and also disability and premature death. It is a very important aspect of medicine as it ensures the person healthy and it lowers health costs in the long run. Preventative medicine involves preventing a disease to happen, for example immunizations, health education on diet and physical activity. It also involves diagnosing a disease before it progresses into a major health problem. For example, treating hypertension and diabetes before it can cause heart attacks and strokes and also screening for cancers.
Host: It sounds like the field of preventative medicine actually covers quite a bit, but tell me a little bit just in general about some of the other diseases that you treat there at Pioneers Health Center.
Dr. Mahendrakar: Here at Pioneers Health Center I diagnose and treat many illness including, the thing that I said before, like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, asthma, COPD, and other respiratory problems, some skin diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and some painful conditions like headaches, back pain, neuropathies, fibromyalgia, and so on. So at this health center, I have diagnosed some rare conditions and surprisingly hypertension and diabetes have been diagnosed in very young ages as well.
Host: Wow it seems like you run the gamut of all of the things that we hear about in day to day life, which is you know I guess the benefit of being the family medicine doctor, you see a lot of that, but talk a little bit about the types of screenings and tests that you recommend that your patients get either on an annual or semiannual basis.
Dr. Mahendrakar: So according to the guidelines, adults should be screened for various diseases specific for the age and sex. For example, you know we start screening for hypertension at the age of 18, diabetes at the age of 40, and every year thereafter, mammograms starting at the age of 40 and every year thereafter, colon cancer screening at the age of 50 and every 10 years, Pap smear at the age of 21 and every 3 to 5 years depending on the age. These and other screening tests should be discussed with primary care physicians as they are based on personal and family history.
Host: Okay got it, and so you’ve been at Pioneers for a while now and I’d love to really unpack what it is that you love most about working there.
Dr. Mahendrakar: I pretty much enjoy everything that I do here at Pioneers Health Center. The patient population here is great. There’s a lot of variety here in terms of their diseases. I see a patient from a very young age to geriatric ages. I take care of different health problems, which is kind of intellectually challenging. So I like everyone here at Pioneers who are dedicated towards patient safety and patient health. We provide quality healthcare here and compassionate service for families of the Imperial Valley.
Host: Alright Dr. Mahendrakar, I really appreciate your time today. That’s Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar, a family medicine specialist at Pioneers Health Center. Thanks for checking out this episode of Pioneers Memorial Health Talk. Head to pmhd.org to get connected with Dr. Mahendrakar or another provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, that would really help us out and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks and we’ll see you next time.
Prakash Chandran (Host): So it feels like we go to the doctor only when injury or illness strikes, but there’s actually a field called preventative medicine that focuses on making sure we live a healthy lifestyle so we might avoid unnecessary disease or disability. Let’s talk with Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar, a family medicine specialist at Pioneers Health Center. This is Pioneers Memorial Health Talk, the podcast from Pioneers Memorial Hospital. I’m Prakash Chandran. So first of all, Dr. Mahendrakar, tell us a little bit about what you do at Pioneers Health Center.
Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar (Guest): So first of all, thank you for having me here. So we basically provide a range of services including routine health physicals, health screening, diagnosing and treating chronic diseases. We also emphasize on health education and counseling on lifestyle modification here. I do refer some patients to specialists for some serious conditions beyond my expertise. We also take walk-ins for managing pain, common cold, sinusitis, urinary tract infections, and other acute problems.
Host: Okay, so I’ve also heard that one of the things that you cover is preventative medicine. So maybe talk a little bit about what the field of preventative medicine is and why it is so important.
Dr. Mahendrakar: Preventative medicine basically means focusing on health maintenance, physical well being, and prevention of diseases and also disability and premature death. It is a very important aspect of medicine as it ensures the person healthy and it lowers health costs in the long run. Preventative medicine involves preventing a disease to happen, for example immunizations, health education on diet and physical activity. It also involves diagnosing a disease before it progresses into a major health problem. For example, treating hypertension and diabetes before it can cause heart attacks and strokes and also screening for cancers.
Host: It sounds like the field of preventative medicine actually covers quite a bit, but tell me a little bit just in general about some of the other diseases that you treat there at Pioneers Health Center.
Dr. Mahendrakar: Here at Pioneers Health Center I diagnose and treat many illness including, the thing that I said before, like hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol, obesity, asthma, COPD, and other respiratory problems, some skin diseases, sexually transmitted diseases and some painful conditions like headaches, back pain, neuropathies, fibromyalgia, and so on. So at this health center, I have diagnosed some rare conditions and surprisingly hypertension and diabetes have been diagnosed in very young ages as well.
Host: Wow it seems like you run the gamut of all of the things that we hear about in day to day life, which is you know I guess the benefit of being the family medicine doctor, you see a lot of that, but talk a little bit about the types of screenings and tests that you recommend that your patients get either on an annual or semiannual basis.
Dr. Mahendrakar: So according to the guidelines, adults should be screened for various diseases specific for the age and sex. For example, you know we start screening for hypertension at the age of 18, diabetes at the age of 40, and every year thereafter, mammograms starting at the age of 40 and every year thereafter, colon cancer screening at the age of 50 and every 10 years, Pap smear at the age of 21 and every 3 to 5 years depending on the age. These and other screening tests should be discussed with primary care physicians as they are based on personal and family history.
Host: Okay got it, and so you’ve been at Pioneers for a while now and I’d love to really unpack what it is that you love most about working there.
Dr. Mahendrakar: I pretty much enjoy everything that I do here at Pioneers Health Center. The patient population here is great. There’s a lot of variety here in terms of their diseases. I see a patient from a very young age to geriatric ages. I take care of different health problems, which is kind of intellectually challenging. So I like everyone here at Pioneers who are dedicated towards patient safety and patient health. We provide quality healthcare here and compassionate service for families of the Imperial Valley.
Host: Alright Dr. Mahendrakar, I really appreciate your time today. That’s Dr. Vijay Mahendrakar, a family medicine specialist at Pioneers Health Center. Thanks for checking out this episode of Pioneers Memorial Health Talk. Head to pmhd.org to get connected with Dr. Mahendrakar or another provider. If you found this podcast helpful, please share it on your social channels, that would really help us out and be sure to check out the entire podcast library for topics of interest to you. Thanks and we’ll see you next time.