In the news of our current times, we are hearing so much about disease, death, struggle.  But we aren’t hearing much about those who recover from this Coronavirus. We aren’t hearing much about what we can do to avoid this disease, other than stay home, wash your hands, social distance, etc. But nothing more to help us stay healthy. No tips and tricks, no coping mechanisms.  And isn’t this the norm for our health system today. We have such high rates of heart disease and diabetes and hypertension and yet we don’t really focus on how to reverse these diseases or how to prevent them from happening in the first place. And that is why I am here today.  Please remember, I believe in modern medicine. I believe it has its place. I believe in pharmaceuticals.  But I also believe there is a better way. I believe we can achieve full health and wellness when we equip ourselves with tools to help us get there.

I start this series with the question, “What is Prevention?” Many think it’s getting our milestone screenings like mammograms, colonoscopies, yearly pap smears, prostate exams. Others think it’s getting vaccinations, staying up to date on them and getting every new one that comes out. And on the outskirts of this conversation is diet, exercise, meditation, and the way we live our lives, our lifestyle choices.  I posed this question to social media not that long ago. The responses, “There are stages”, “It is a journey, small adaptations over time make us healthier,” “when we know better, we do better.” These are all true statements and encompass the spirit of prevention. But it made me realize that maybe we don’t really know what prevention is….

There are several levels of prevention. First there is primary prevention.  This type of prevention is what we use to avoid developing a disease, any disease.  This is the category where diet, exercise, life-style choices, and habits come in to play. Vaccinations also fit into this category.  Next there is secondary prevention.  Here is where those screening tests such as pap smears, colonoscopies, mammograms, etc fit in. This stage of prevention seeks to identify a disease as early as possible in order to treat or reverse the illness.  The final level of prevention is tertiary prevention. In this level of prevention, we are managing a disease after diagnosis, and trying to stop the progression of it.

Now, there is prevention we participate in to keep ourselves healthy, and, there are other types of prevention. These include environmental prevention, local, state, and governmental prevention.  These include activities that decrease the risk of developing a disease for the benefit of public health. For example, the law to stop smoking in restaurants. This was to decrease the risk of second-hand smoke exposure to non-smokers. We are also living in the midst of the local, state and governmental prevention activities to decrease the spread of a contagious disease.

Given all this, I hope you see that prevention can be seen in many forms, in many situations, in many activities. It is not just one thing that defines prevention.  It is many different activities that lead to prevention. And as one person said in response to my initial question, prevention really is engaging in small changes over time to make us healthier.  It truly is a journey.

Now that we know what prevention is and what the various levels and types of prevention are, we can start to dive into primary prevention because that is our foundation.  If we can adopt healthy habits, healthy lifestyle, healthy eating, healthy relationships, then we may not need the other levels of prevention…

So, I’ll see you next time,

~The Nurturing Nurse