The Importance of Getting a Flu Shot and Other Preventative Medical Care

Not making time for preventative health care, including an annual flu shot, can cost you money, time, and stress, as well as potentially creating a health crisis later. Save money and stay healthy by making time for and understanding the importance of getting a flu shot and other preventative medical care.

This is the time of year when doctor’s offices and pharmacies are advertising that they have flu shots available. I am not a doctor, but I highly recommend that you get a flu shot this year. From personal experience, I have faithfully gotten a flu shot every year for as long as I can remember. My mother, on the other hand, has refused to get one. Last year she got the flu in January and then again in early June. She is now, after all these years, going to get a flu shot this fall.

Unfortunately, it may take a health crisis to realize the importance of being on top of preventative care for yourself and your loved ones. I also know a business colleague of mine who last March, in the middle of an extremely busy work cycle, got hit with the flu and had to work from home, lost contact with her husband, an accountant, and missed out on numerous volunteer events all because she forgot to get her flu shot.

How can we avoid these unfortunate situations? I often talk about the importance of using a calendar. This is another instance when scheduling preventative medical care ties into the use of a calendar.

Pull out your calendar now and see if you have a doctor’s appointment already scheduled in October or November. If not, can you call and schedule one for the specific purpose of getting a flu shot? See if your town offers flu shot clinics or just stop into a pharmacy and get your flu shot there. I just looked at my calendar and see that I have an appointment with my primary care doctor in early November. I now know that this is when I will get my flu shot. If they are out of them when I am there, I will then go to my local pharmacy and get it there.

There is other preventative medical care that you can be on top of such as bi-annual dental cleanings, annual physicals, and mammograms. I find that once I have scheduled these, as soon as I am checking out from that appointment, I am making the next one. I find that if I leave the doctor/dentist office without a next appointment, I will either keep forgetting to call, or keep pushing the call off due to my busy schedule. If you haven’t had any of the annual appointments in a while, may I challenge you to pick up the phone and schedule them?

I know too many ladies who, if they had not been faithfully getting annual mammograms, would have had much more advanced breast cancers. Once you hear of these jarring events, I would hope that it would encourage you to run to your phone and schedule an important annual exam.

Being in control of your health related appointments really will help save you time and money. More importantly, it may save your life!

Photo: Pixabay.com