Health & Fitness

By Harbor Primary Care

You routinely see the same hairstylist and get your car tuned up by the same mechanic, so why not trust your most important asset — your health — to someone you know, and who knows you?

Maintaining a long-term relationship with a physician plays an essential role in your health and well-being. Primary care providers offer long-term relationships and will remain with you throughout your lifetime. Seeing the same person year after year also helps maintain an awareness of what’s going on with your health, including tracking important benchmarks such as weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.

Primary care providers also offer ongoing treatment for chronic health problems, routine medical exams, and referrals for screenings such as a colonoscopy or mammogram. They also treat common health problems, such as the flu.

Primary care providers also can help patients navigate what can sometimes be a complicated medical system. For example, if a patient develops a disease such as cancer, a primary care provider can help them find an oncologist, surgeon or any other specialist he or she may need. They also can explain in very plain language exactly what the risks and benefits are of each treatment option and recommend what’s best for the patient and their family.

In short, primary care providers keep patients healthy, which minimize the chances they will need to use emergency or urgent care. This is why it is important to not wait until you are sick to visit your primary care provider. If you do get sick, however, your primary care provider will be there to help. Not only does he understand your personal and family health history, he can provide the most effective treatment. Your provider knows how you respond to certain medications and can draw upon past experiences with you in a way an urgent care center cannot.

Primary care providers play many roles – doctor, coach, navigator, and confidant - but perhaps their best role in the lives of patients is partner. The goal of the primary care provider isn’t just to help patients get better, but for them to feel better and live healthier lives too.

Lee-Anne Flannery, M.D., recently joined the Harbor Primary Care team at its Glen Burnie location, making it more convenient than ever for area residents to receive routine exams, health screenings and help with managing diseases. The office offers same day appointments and early morning, lunchtime, evening and weekend hours. To make an appointment with a primary care provider at Harbor Primary Care, visit harborhospital.org/primarycare or call 410-350-2563.