Family Medical History

Thanksgiving is the most remarkable holiday on our annual calendar. It is the one holiday that celebrates the unity of all Americans irrespective of race, creed, religion or gender orientation. For one day a year, we are all Americans celebrating the uniqueness of our country and all it offers to each of us and our families.

The Surgeon General of the United States, since 2004, has declared Thanksgiving Day is to be National Family Health History Day.

The idea of increasing family awareness of the power of family health history as a screening tool is a terrific idea. In fact, we at Curus developed a GeneCalculator© a few years ago with this idea in mind. We have even reached out to estate planning attorneys and asked them if they ever discussed or incorporated the concept of health history into the estate planning process. We mostly received quizzical looks because the attorneys seemed more focused on the transfer of wealth and not on the transfer of health.
 
In past generations, severe illnesses of loved ones were only whispered about and not discussed openly. There was a cultural milieu that made discussion of close relatives health problems accessible on a need to know basis only.
 
This silence about our parents, grandparents and great grandparents genetic illnesses actually was a disservice to all of us. 
As the Surgeon General states on the Family Health History Initiative webpage, “Health care professionals have known for a long time that common diseases – heart disease, cancer, and diabetes – and rare diseases – like hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia – can run in families. If one generation of a family has high blood pressure, it is not unusual for the next generation to have similarly high blood pressure. Tracing the illnesses suffered by your parents, grandparents, and other blood relatives can help your doctor predict the disorders to which you may be at risk and take action to keep you and your family healthy.”
 
Our Chief Medical Officer at Curus, Robert Kelman M.D. has often said to me that in 80 – 90% of the cases he sees a good history and physical can give him enough data points to make a diagnosis. We think as non-physicians that it is the diagnostic tools that drive a positive diagnosis. However, it is, in fact, that these tools, in most instances, are confirmatory of a diagnosis and not determinative of diagnosis.
 
It is very important that the older generation with the knowledge of the history of family diseases going back a generation or two transmit that information to the next generation. The predictive value those illnesses only previously whispered about can be extremely important to extending and improving current and future generations’ quality of life. With this information and emerging technologies, Our physicians will be in a position to help us make better healthcare choices. It will help our physicians focus their attention on areas of genetic compromise revealed by the history of our ancestors. It will allow the younger generation raising children to use this information to provide their children with a roadmap for a healthier life as they become adolescents and adults.
 
We have often heard the phrase “information is power,” and this is certainly a truth when it comes to healthcare.
The more we know about the genetic illnesses that have been prevalent in our families and in our respective cultures the more likely we are to be able to take proactive action to ensure a better quality of life.
 
The only thing I take issue with about the Surgeon General’s suggestion is  – I’m not sure that as we sit down at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table, it is the time for this health history discussion. I have this picture in my mind of the college age grandchild saying to his grandfather “Grandpa can you please pass me the cranberry sauce and what was the result of your most recent colonoscopy?”. I jest, but the time for this discussion and the transmission of family health information should hold the same serious import as that of passing on family wealth.
 
As our tagline at Curus states, “Because health is the greatest wealth there is.”

National Family Health History Day, established by the office of Surgeon General of the United States, is an indication of the importance of your genes as the roadmap to your vulnerability for certain genetically transmitted diseases. As a service to you, we at Curus, your healthcare GPS, have included this link to our GeneCalculator for you to print, fill out and share with your family.

Enjoy Thanksgiving. It is the one day of the year where we give ourselves permission – no matter how much we eat the calories don’t count.
Please call us at 888-674-4852 or E-mail [email protected] 

Curus is not rendering medical advice in “Health Points”.
If you have any questions regarding the content in this newsletter please contact your physician.

Good health is a constant journey. We are your healthcare GPS.