Happy Doctor’s Day to my fellow physicians!
To honor the day, here is one of my favorite quotes:
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
Maya Angelou
We highly recommend that all patients use our Patient Portal. You can do the following on your portal:
- Contact us with medical and office questions, with complete security
- Update your contact information
- View your medical records including test results
- View and pay patient account balances with credit card
Click Here to Access
If you do not have access to the portal, please contact our office and we will get you set up!
One of the key tools we have in Precision Medicine is evaluating your family medical history. A family medical history can help us identify those of you with a higher-than-usual chance of having common disorders, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, certain cancers, and diabetes. A family history of colon cancer, for example, might indicate the need for genetic testing, which can be covered by insurance.
We have probably had conversations about your family health history when you initially signed up, or during your wellness exam. However, taking your history at the office is not ideal because you might not remember all the details. The easiest way to get information about family medical history is to talk to relatives about their health. Have they had any medical problems, and when did they occur? A family gathering is usually an ideal time to discuss these iquestions. You might also come across some interesting family lore that you had not heard before!
I am encouraging everyone to start gathering health information about your grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, siblings, and children. Information includes:
- Major medical conditions and causes of death
- Age of disease onset and age at death
- Ethnic background
We are recommending a free tool called My Family Health Portrait as the easiest way to gather your family history. You can enter your information here, and then share the information with me by using our secure patient portal.
I look forward to hearing about everyone’s history during our next visit!
I am excited to be spending the weekend at the “Precision Medicine in Practice” workshop in La Jolla, California. It was great interacting with Jeanette McCarthy and the panel of genomics experts that was put together. For those of you that may not have heard the term, Precision Medicine is a new medical approach of tailoring care to each patient’s unique genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle. I am especially excited about the opportunity to enhance your care with these recent medical advances.
Stay tuned for more news around this during April.
