POCATELLO – Southeast Idaho Public Health will be offering health screenings later this month and officials are encouraging anyone with health risks to take advantage of it.
The screenings will offer participants insight into their risk of heart disease and diabetes, as well as their chance of experiencing a stroke within the next 10 years.
“It’s good for preventative health,” said Mallory Summers, the Diabetes, Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Program Coordinator at SIPH. “We do blood work (which allows people) to see where their numbers are so they can make lifestyle changes that help prevent diabetes or heart disease.”
A few months ago, someone came in for a health screening who had “extremely” high blood pressure. Normal blood pressure is around 120 over 80. This person’s blood pressure was 200 over 95.
The person was not alarmed by their blood pressure reading at first, but when Summers told them how serious it was, they ended up going to get treatment.
Summers doesn’t know many specifics about their treatment, but she found out they were put on blood pressure medication.
She believes a health screening saved this person’s life.
“When your blood pressure gets that high, your risk of stroke is really high,” Summers said. “A stroke can be fatal, so I think we caught it at a really good time. We didn’t want it getting any higher.”
For people who have already been diagnosed with high blood pressure or diabetes, Summer said it’s still good to get a health screening so they know the latest on their condition.
“They can make sure they’re managing their diabetes well so it doesn’t turn into a situation where they have severe consequences,” Summers said.
She noted many people believe they can eat to the point where they have diabetes, but this is a common misconception. What determines if a person can develop diabetes is if they are a gene carrier for it.
“Your lifestyle choices determine if your genetics will be expressed or not,” Summers explained.
While health screenings don’t test for genetics, Summers will often look at patients’ family history. If someone has relatives with diabetes, they’ll be more likely to develop it too.
And for people who aren’t gene carriers for diabetes, they can still get a better picture of their heart health and their risk of experiencing a stroke.
Screenings will be held at the SIPH main office in Pocatello on April 14 and April 28. Summers will also do screenings at Portneuf Health Trust at 500 South 11th Avenue, Suite 503. It will be held on April 12.
Health screenings will be happening in other locations as well. Summers will be in American Falls on April 11, Blackfoot on April 19, Arco on April 26 and Malad on May 2.
Those who don’t have time to come in before the end of April can schedule an appointment at (208) 239-5289.
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