Preventive health: Get your screenings

Photo By Petty Officer 1st Class Jacob Sippel | JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (May 17, 2017) – Lt. Allison Wessner, a pediatrician at Naval Hospital Jacksonville, conducts a check-up with a two-month-old and her mother. Parents should bring children in for a check-up in the first month of life, and at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18 months of age, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics. Check-ups track growth and development, prevent illness with immunizations, and answer parents’ questions. (U.S. Navy photo by Jacob Sippel, Naval Hospital Jacksonville/Released).  

JACKSONVILLE, FL, UNITED STATES

08.03.2017

Courtesy Story

Naval Hospital Jacksonville

Preventive services and immunizations are your best defense against serious illness and preventable disease. Your care team at Naval Hospital Jacksonville (our hospital and branch health clinics) stands ready to provide those services.

Each year, potentially preventable chronic diseases — such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes — are responsible for millions of premature deaths among Americans.

Men and Women:
• Colorectal cancer: Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S., among cancers affecting both men and women. If you’re age 50 or over, get screened now for colorectal cancer. Screening can find growths so they can be removed before turning into cancer. Screening also finds cancer at an early stage, when treatment often leads to a cure. If you have risk factors, you might need to be tested earlier or more often. Talk to your primary care manager.
• Diabetes: If you have diabetes, see your health care team every three to six months for an AIC test. This checks your long-term control of blood sugar. Make an appointment with your PCM today. You can discuss strategies to manage diabetes at home, work, school, and while traveling. You can also talk with a diabetes nurse or our nutrition clinic, and ask about our Diabetes Wellness Team.

Men:
• Talk to your PCM about testicular and prostate cancer screenings, or other tests you might need.

Women:
• Cervical cancer: Prevent cervical cancer — with the right test at the right time. Get your first Pap test at age 21. If the test is normal, you can wait three years until the next Pap. After turning 30, you have a choice. You can get a Pap test every three years. Or, get a combined Pap and human papillomavirus (HPV) test, and if both are normal, you can wait five years until the next screening. Talk with your PCM about options.
• Chlamydia: Most people who have chlamydia don’t know it, since there’s often no symptoms. It’s the most common sexually transmitted infection in the U.S. Women under age 25 (and older women with risk factors) need chlamydia testing every year. Call or email your PCM to schedule a urine sample in our lab.
• Breast cancer: Mammograms are the best way to find breast cancer early, when it’s easier to treat and before it’s big enough to feel. Starting at age 40, talk with your PCM about when to start and how often to get a mammogram. You have the choice to get an annual mammogram at age 40 and up. Call Radiology today (904-542-7782). It’s easy to schedule, with no need to see your PCM.

Children:
• Well-child check-up: Bring your child in for a check-up in the first month of life, and at 2, 4, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months of age; and at ages 2, 2½, 3, 4, and 5 years. Check-ups track growth and development, prevent illness with immunizations, and answer your questions. Talk to your PCM about check-ups during the school-age years.

Your Medical Home Port team (at the hospital or branch health clinic) is here to meet your preventive, routine, and urgent health care needs.

Make an appointment with your PCM by phone [phone] at our hospital, or 904-546-7094 at BHC Jacksonville for active duty), or at TRICARE’s Online Patient Portal at www.TRICAREonline.com.

For immunizations, stop by or call 904-542-7810 (hospital) or
904-546-7050 (BHC Jacksonville).

To take a free class on tobacco cessation, nutrition, or healthy weight, contact our hospital’s Wellness Center at 904-542-5292, or BHC Jacksonville’s Health Promotions (904-546-7062, for active duty).

For 24/7 clinical advice, call the Nurse Advice Line at 800-TRICARE
(800-874-2273).

For secure email messaging with your care team (for non-urgent issues), sign up for free at https://mil.RelayHealth.com.

To view your care team’s PCMs, visit our website at www.med.navy.mil/sites/navalhospitaljax, click on Medical Home Port, and click on each team.

NH Jacksonville's priority since its founding in 1941 is to heal the nation's heroes and their families. The command is comprised of the Navy's third largest hospital and five branch health clinics across Florida and Georgia. Of its patient population (163,000 active and retired sailors, soldiers, Marines, airmen, guardsmen, and their families), about 85,000 are enrolled with a primary care manager and Medical Home Port team at one of its facilities. To find out more or download the command’s mobile app, visit www.med.navy.mil/sites/navalhospitaljax.

• Date Taken: 08.03.2017
• Date Posted: 08.03.2017 14:20
• Story ID: 243588
• Location: JACKSONVILLE, FL, US