Prevention banner

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What does prevention mean icon

If you want to prevent something from happening, you work to block it or stop it.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Teach this saying to others.

It is easier, cheaper and safer to prevent problems than to wait until they are bigger problems.

female doctor performing breast screening on female patient

Preventative health care

There are many things you and your doctor can do to prevent illness and help you stay healthy.

  • There are check-ups or tests you can do that look for early problems.
  • If you find a problem when it is still small, you may treat it so it doesn't grow to be bigger.

Heart disease and cancer are two kinds of health problems that make many people get sick and even die. If we look for early signs of these illnesses, we can prevent some big problems.

We may help a person get rid of the illness and live longer.

Video

What is Cancer?

From IC4.

Video

What is Heart Disease?

From Mayo Clinic.

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Tests we do to prevent illness are

  • Shots or vaccines
  • Pap smears
  • Colonoscopies

tests we do to find a health problem early

  • Height and weight
  • Blood pressure
  • Mental health screens
  • Blood sugar and cholesterol tests
  • Vision or hearing exams
  • Dental check-ups (video link)
  • Mammograms (video link)

tests we do just for people with higher risk of an illness

  • Thyroid blood tests and hearing tests if a person has Down syndrome
  • Lung CAT scan to look for early lung cancer if a person smokes cigarettes

How do you decide what tests to do?

  • Get correct info

 

  • Weigh the pros and cons

 

  • Ask the people you trust

 

  • Build trust with your doctor
African American male getting a shot from a nurse

What are shots or vaccines?

  • Germs are viruses or bacteria that cause an illness.
  • Vaccines protect the body by blocking these germs.
  • Each vaccine has a part of a dead or weak germ. It is injected or shot into your body.
  • Inside your body, you make a reaction to the germ that was in the vaccine.
  • Your body makes an antibody against the germ. Antibodies are the body's memory of germs.
  • If that real live germ tries to enter the body in the future, the body remembers it. It sends an anti body to block the germ.
  • Your body is now immune to that infection.

Video

Why Do We Get Vaccines?

From Sci Show Kids.

Video

Can babies and children tolerate so many shots?

From Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Video

Info about vaccines: For people with a learning disability.

From National Health Service.