Health Matters - Apple Magazine Health Matters Spring 2016 | Page 2

Cover photo: Technician Sara Gimbel (right) gives one of her patients a mammogram at RCA Diagnostics in Calgary. Photo: Michael Interisano CALGARY AND AREA Your Health Matters Health Matters is published by Calgary and area Primary Care Networks (PCNs) to give you information about the programs, services and health teams available to you through your family doctor. More than 60,000 copies are distributed in the Calgary area. Research shows when people visit a family doctor regularly, they are healthier and live longer. People with chronic diseases also receive more care, make fewer emergency department visits and are hospitalized less. More than 1,300 family doctors in 346 clinics belong to PCNs in the Calgary area. They care for about 1.1 million patients. Health Matters, Spring 2016 Issue publication team: Keith Bradford, Terry Bullick, Bart Goemans, Cori Leyte, Dr. Christine Luelo, Jacquie Maurice, Amy Sawchenko, Chrissie Worth Contributors: Jennifer Allford, Penny Breedon, Anne Georg, Doug R. Horner, Michael Interisano, Jacqueline Louie, Sherry Mumford, Jimi Scherer, Brett Tiesmaki, Neil Zeller We appreciate your feedback and article suggestions. Contact our editorial team at [email protected]. To find your PCN, visit mypcn.ca › Bow Valley Primary Care Network › Calgary Foothills Primary Care Network › Calgary Rural Primary Care Network › Calgary West Central Primary Care Network › Highland Primary Care Network › Mosaic Primary Care Network › South Calgary Primary Care Network ii    Health Matters: A Calgary & Area Primary Care Networks Publication Behind the screen What screening tests can do for you Rhonda Petryk takes a proactive approach to her health. “I would much rather be doing things for my health now, than wait until I have some major health issue, and then dealing with it after the fact,” she says. As part of that approach, she recently had screening tests for breast cancer, osteoporosis and colon cancer. “Screening serves as an early warning system to alert people to a potential for illness and allows them to do what’s necessary to avoid getting ‘ill’ or labelled with a disease such as diabetes or hypertension,” says Dr. Anthony Train, who is part of the South Calgary PCN. Screening tests and tools can include an examination, procedure and questions to help detect, diagnose and if needed, shape treatment. Screening is different from diagnostic tests—such as a blood test—which are used to diagnose specific symptoms and complaints. “We screen healthy people for potential early illnesses,” Train explains. Screening is “an ongoing conversation with your health-care provider, which is tailored for you.” Dr. Jim Dickinson, a family medicine professor at the University of Calgary and a member of the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care, says some screening tests are highly effective. Others have less value and must be carefully considered with your primary care doctor before being conducted.