Tips to Stay Healthy in 2020

Jan 18, 2020

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Staying healthy in the New Year is an important resolution, but most tend to bypass preventive exams and screenings that would keep them stronger longer. Just as infants and children need to follow an immunization timetable, adults should also regularly schedule certain medical tests. The beginning of a new year is the perfect time to start.

“It’s important for people to know the status of their health,” says Christopher Morrissey, DO, FACOS, William Newton Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center medical director. “Everyone should work with their healthcare providers to stay healthy.”

The local experts at the William Newton Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center see patients who have had their lifestyle altered by chronic wounds which often have underlying medical conditions such as diabetes, obesity and circulatory problems. They suggest adding the following screenings as recommended by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and other health organizations to your year calendar:

• Diabetes tests should be taken if you are overweight, have high blood pressure or high cholesterol, as well as every three years after age 45.
• A panel created by the American Diabetes Association recommends that every diabetic over age 50 be tested for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) which narrows leg arteries and reduces blood flow.
• People with diabetes should have their feet examined during regular doctor visits four times a year.
• Cholesterol checks should be taken every five years beginning at 20 years of age. Smokers, people with diabetes and those with a family history of heart disease should especially check their cholesterol on a regular basis.
• Colorectal cancer screenings should begin at age 50.
• Women should begin biennial mammogram screenings at the age of 50, and younger women should ask their health care provider if a mammogram is right for them, based on age, family history, overall health and personal concerns.
• Women should have a bone density test for osteoporosis at age 65.
• Men should discuss having a prostate test and exam with their doctors by age 50 and by age 45 for those at high risk for prostate cancer such as African Americans and those with a family history.
• Men and women should have their physician check for skin abnormalities when already receiving a physical examination.
• If you wear glasses, have a family history of vision problems or have a disease that puts you at risk for eye disease, such as diabetes, have your eyes checked frequently. A healthy adult with no vision problem should have an eye exam every five to 10 years between 20 and 30 years of age, and every two to four years between 40 and 65 years of age. For more information about staying healthy in the New Year, contact William Newton Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center located at William Newton Hospital in Winfield at 620-222-6205.

Christopher Morrissey, DO, FACOS, is the medical director of the William Newton Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center, which opened at William Newton Hospital in 2017 and provides specialized treatment for chronic or non-healing wounds. If you have comments or story ideas, call 620-221-2300, ext. 1113.

The "Weekend Check-Up" is a regular health column published in the Cowley Courier Traveler penned by employees and friends of William Newton Hospital.