Screenings
Preventive health is key to helping individuals stay healthy and detecting health problems before they cause other issues or become more difficult to treat. Wright County Public Health provides certain preventative health screenings for clients. Wright County Public Health Nurses cannot diagnose or treat medical conditions, and services provided do not replace regular visits to a medical provider.
Blood pressure is the amount of force the blood uses to get through a person's arteries. When the heart pumps, it uses force to push oxygen-rich blood out to the arteries and bring it to the body’s cells and tissues. If blood pressure is too high, it may cause additional health issues such as heart attack, stroke, heart failure, kidney disease, and vision loss.
A cholesterol screening requires a simple fingerstick blood sample. The cholesterol test checks levels of:
- Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol. Having high levels of LDL cholesterol can lead to plaque buildup in arteries and result in heart disease or stroke.
- High-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol. HDL is known as “good” cholesterol because high levels can lower the risk of heart disease and stroke.
- Triglycerides, a type of fat in your blood that your body uses for energy. The combination of high levels of triglycerides with low HDL cholesterol or high LDL cholesterol levels can increase the risk for heart attack and stroke.
- Total cholesterol, the total amount of cholesterol in the blood based on HDL, LDL, and triglycerides numbers.
The hemoglobin A1c test (also known as A1c or HbA1c test) is a simple fingerstick blood test that measures a person's average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months. It is one of the tests commonly used to diagnose and treat prediabetes and diabetes and is also the main test to help manage diabetes.