By Glynis Ratcliffe

Humber River Health’s physicians and clinical staff are committed not only to helping patients manage their existing diseases and conditions but also to stopping them before they start. This is the realm of preventative care, and it’s a crucial element of every patient’s health.

“Preventative care is not just good for the patient, it’s also good for the healthcare system,” explains Dr. S. Zaki Ahmed, Chief of Staff at Humber.

 

Primary

This type of preventative care is meant to catch diseases before they start. Annual screenings, like colorectal screening and mammograms, fit into this category. For example, a physician will remove a polyp detected during a routine colonoscopy before the cancer can develop.

Secondary

Secondary prevention is all about catching diseases in their earliest stages, when treatment is most manageable. For instance, a chronic disease like hypertension will first manifest as high blood pressure readings. Physicians can then monitor patients more closely, administer medication and suggest lifestyle modifications to prevent the disease from further developing.

Tertiary

Once a disease has taken hold, tertiary prevention and care help to manage symptoms, improve outcomes and the patient’s quality of life, and prevent the disease from worsening. For example, a patient who recently had a heart attack is at much greater risk of experiencing a second one, so their team should closely monitor their heart health.

Breast cancer screening

In October 2023, Ontario lowered the breast cancer screening age to 40 from 50, thanks to the advocacy of Humber radiologist Dr. David Jacobs and others. “This is a big win for women,” he notes, adding that about 20 per cent of all breast cancer begins between ages 40 and 55. Breast cancer starts much earlier in women who are Black, African, Caribbean, Latinx and Asian than the rest of the population. By lowering the screening age, Dr. Jacobs explains, clinicians can detect cancer in an earlier stage, which leads to improved patient outcomes.

Pull quote: “Preventative care starts when we’re kids. We need to incorporate mental and physical well-being into our daily lives, especially if we have a family history of certain diseases, to prevent ourselves from developing them down the line.”

Pull quote: “30 per cent of our population has more than two chronic medical conditions. Our job is to make sure that those are well controlled so community members don’t develop complications from them.” – Dr. S. Zaki Ahmed

Stat: Patients are booking more than 400,000 on-site clinic visits annually.

To read our full magazine, Care Closer to Home, click here.