Timely Screening Can Lead To A Healthier You (NAPSA)—Here’s a tip for a healthier year: Timely medical screening can help prevent a number of diseases. Unfortunately, according to a new report by AARP, the American Medical Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, fewer than onein four adults aged 50 to 64 get recommended health screenings designed to detect and prevent disease. The good news is that changing that is as easy as scheduling a screening and going. “The current gap in the deliyery of preventive services to this age group represents one of the most serious challenges for the health of our nation,” said geriatric specialist Dr. William J. Hall, AARP board member. That is why AARP has teamed up with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to create easy-to-use health checklists for men and womenover50. The checklists give you the latest evidence-based recommendations on how to detect a wide range of conditions that impact older Americans, such as breast, cervical and colorectal cancer; depression; diabetes; high blood pressure and high cholesterol; and obesity. The checklists also provide a screening test record, a form you can use to keep track of the date and results of your last screening tests, when you should have the y Health checklists can help a doctor to identify a range of conditions, such as diabetes, depression and different types of cancer. To obtain a health checklist, go to www.aarp.org/menchecklist or www.aarp.org/womenchecklist. test next, and questions you have for your next doctorvisit. AARPalso recommendscreating a personal medication record, a list of all the medicines you take, including over-the-counter drugs and herbal supplements, the doses and how you take them. While your doctor may have a list of his own, you may be seeing more than one doctor. That’s why, experts say, it can be very important to reduce medication risks and bring your updated personal record to all your appointments and even provide a copy to the pharmacies you use. To obtain a health checklist, go to www.aarp.org/menchecklist or www.aarp.org/womenchecklist. To obtain a guide for creating a personal medication record, go to www.aarp.org/medicationrecord.
