RICHMOND, Va. — Doctors are urging community members to make regular primary care appointments on the heels of the pandemic.
Richmond-Henrico Health District Director Dr. Elaine Perry reminds the public of the importance of regularly seeing a primary care physician. She said a lot of attention was previously on preventing the spread of COVID-19, but now they can focus on the basics.
“It's important for adults to have a place that they can go to see healthcare professionals that know you, know your conditions," Dr. Perry explained. "It can help not only treat issues as they come up, but then help prevent some of these chronic diseases over the long term."
RHHD said catching up on medical appointments ensures consistent health monitoring, vaccinations, and preventative care.
Dr. Perry said doing so helps better manage or even prevent chronic diseases like asthma, diabetes, and high blood pressure, among other issues.
This message is for people of all ages.
While urgent care facilities or emergency rooms do share an important role in healthcare, Dr. Perry said a primary care physician can go beyond base-level care.
“The healthcare professionals there, although wonderful and trained and very caring and very helpful, are not the ones who have seen you before,” she stated. “They're not the ones that understand that your blood sugar is a little higher than it was last time. Maybe we need to start talking about some ways to help prevent you from developing diabetes, right?”
Visit here for a list of primary care providers in Richmond and Henrico that accept Medicare, Medicaid, and patients without insurance. Some of these providers also accept private insurance.
You can search for local physicians that accept Medicaid here.
Bring your insurance card to your appointment if you have insurance.
Bring current medications and vaccine records to your appointment.
Minors should usually bring a parent or legal guardian to their appointments.
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