Healthy Checkups: What Women Should Check for Each Year

By Robyn Moreno for Las Fabulosas

You take care of your kids’ health, but remembering your own doctor’s appointments? Well, that’s another story.

Fortunately, there’s a nation-wide effort to help women to give their health priority again. On May 13, National Women’s Checkup Day will urge all women — single or married, con hijos or without — to make healthcare appointments. The tests they recommend you get run across the spectrum, from breast screenings and PAP smears to tests for diabetes, bone density and other health concerns that affect Latinas.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health started National Women’s Checkup Day to encourage women to get into the habit of calling and visiting healthcare professionals regularly. The ultimate goal is to detect and deter all kinds of enfermedades, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, mental health illnesses, sexually transmitted infections, and other conditions.

Top on the list are heart disease — the number one killer of American women — and type 2 diabetes, which is particularly common among Latinas.

Another one to watch out for: cervical cancer. While this disease can be deadly when diagnosed late, the five-year survival rate is nearly 100 percent when found early in a pap smear.

Breast cancer, which is the most diagnosed cancer among Latinas, is another example of a preventable disease. It often goes untreated for longer than it should.

The sooner these conditions are diagnosed, the sooner they can be treated — and the sooner Mom can get back to her healthy self!

Robyn Moreno  is a proud Latina of Mexican-American heritage, and has co-written, and co-edited two Latino-centric books: Suave: The Latin Male, a fashion book about Latino style icons, and Border-Line Personalities: A New Generation of Latinas Dish on Sex, Sass, and Cultural Shifting, an honest and irreverent anthology about life as a modern Latina.