Men: Make Prevention a Priority
Get Checked and Take Control of Your Health
Table of Contents
Let’s face it; men are not known to frequent the doctor’s office. At best, only a third of Hispanic males have a usual place for healthcare. What do the other two-thirds do? Statistically nothing until something gets so bad, they go to urgent care or the emergency room. If you’re a man (or you know one) that doesn’t have a primary care physician, it’s time to find one you trust.
You Get to Choose
“I have had patients whose wives have dragged them in to see me,” Dr. Seth Dubry, Senior Medical Director at Equality Health said. “There’s no shame in getting help from somebody. I have a PCP, and we click. It’s important to see someone you trust and can talk to. If not for yourself, then for your family. If you have a wife and kids and you want to be around for them, you have to take care of yourself.”
Just because you are assigned a doctor and you two don’t click doesn’t mean you have to stick with that doctor. You get to choose.
“The patient is in charge,” Dubry said, “because they ultimately make the final decision. But at least have some sort of partnership where you can discuss things and you have a mutual respect and understanding.”
Get the Best
You will never get the best care if you only go to urgent care, where the goal is to handle the complaint and get you out. You not only may see someone different every time you go, each clinic has different medical record systems and won’t know your history.
The same situation goes with emergency rooms. Even if you go because of a true emergency like you’ve wrenched your back and can’t walk, you still won’t get that personalized care you need.
“The ED isn’t designed to take care of the whole person,” Dubry said. “The ED is not equipped to help if you’re having other issues. They may not know that you’ve been laid off recently from work and refer you for community services. Or they may not know that this has you profoundly distressed and be able to get you in to see someone that understands behavioral health issues. Your primary care provider has a much broader range of things they can manage and understand.”
Whole Health
Care for the “whole person” means your physical, mental and spiritual health. Let’s start with the physical.
Heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries and diabetes are the top causes of death for Hispanic males in Arizona. Genetics plays an important role in your risk for getting one of these diseases. For instance, if your parents had diabetes, you could too.
“But that only tells part of the story,” Dubry said. “The other part of the story is having a lack of access to quality primary care, which plays a very large roll as well. Let’s say your father had a heart attack at 50. Your primary care provider will understand your risk and check you for cholesterol, will monitor you for weight gain, will monitor you for smoking and help you maintain a healthy lifestyle. So while you may have a genetic predisposition to getting a condition, you can negate some of that by having someone help you live a healthy lifestyle.”
Take Five
These diseases can affect behavioral health because the mind, the body and the spirit are all connected.
“We know that people who get chronic diseases get depressed or anxious over those diseases,” Dubry explained. “We also know that people who are depressed have more of a likelihood of developing a chronic disease. So I often speak of the mind-spirit-body connection where taking care of your body, taking care of your mind, feeding your soul all work together for a healthy outcome long term.”
A good way to care for that connection is by eating a balanced diet, exercising and avoiding risky behaviors. This includes drinking, smoking and uncontrolled anger. What starts with a cigarette to fit in, a shot to calm anxiety or a fist through a wall can cascade into life-damaging habits that harm your body.
“People who get angry can get depressed, anxious and lash out,” Dubry said. “That’s why it’s important to have someone to talk to. It’s okay to say, ‘This stinks and I’m angry about this and I want to punch a wall.’ But instead of doing that, it’s safer if I talk to someone. Take five or 10 minutes to take deep breaths in and slow, deep breaths out. Getting physical just makes things worse.”
Getting help — whether for your body or your mind — can just make things better. But you won’t know until you go. To find the doctor that’s right for you, contact the number on your health plan membership card or call Equality Health today.