Welcome to the Don’t Wait Health Challenge
Did you know that almost half of women don’t get their recommended checkups and screenings? Today we’re kicking off theSkimm’s Don’t Wait health challenge. Each day this week in the Daily Skimm, we’ll help you take one small, impactful step toward getting your preventative care. We’ll also suggest tools and resources to make it as easy as possible.
Consider the stakes.
Yesterday you told us you don’t book checkups because you’re healthy. That’s wonderful, but you don’t know what you don’t know. Over the next four days, we’ll make the case for why you should prioritize these appointments — and help you make them.It’s hard to have a sense of urgency around getting checked when you feel fine. It’s also hard when you’re healthy to imagine you could ever be unhealthy. The best way to ensure that never happens is to book and go to all of your recommended checkups and screenings, so that minor issues get caught before they become big problems.
Know What You Don’t Know:
Seeing your doctor regularly has been linked to living two years longer.
The risk of developing invasive cervical cancer is up to 10 times higher for women who don’t have Pap smear screenings.
Screening correlated to a 67% reduced risk of a person dying from colorectal cancer.
In 2017, 198 out of every 100,000 US women’s deaths were avoidable — and screenings and other care services play a key role in reducing that number.
All you have to do today is go to our Don’t Wait page, put in your age, and you’ll see a list of all of the appointments recommended for you, and how often you’ll need them. Screenshot the list for easy reference. See? Painless.
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Make it a sprint.
To make scheduling appointments more efficient and less of a drag, block off a one- to two-hour slot on your calendar to book them.
If you aren’t feeling motivated to get checked, you definitely have no appetite for the calls and callbacks and account creations and portal logins (why???) that booking checkups can entail. Fortunately, there’s an easier way.
🗓️ Block time on your calendar for an appointment-making sprint. (Already sounds more exciting, right?)
🔍 During that block, go back to our Don’t Wait page and click the “Book Now” button next to each recommended appointment to find providers in your area who take your insurance.
🏁 Book then and there.
Ask the questions that will keep you healthy.
You know what’s worse than dragging your healthy self to checkups? Having a condition you could have prevented.
If you’re going to the doctor, you might as well use the appointment to gather information that will help you stay healthy in the future. We recommend these tools and resources to help you prep for your appointments:
A free insurance tracker to stay on top of your claims and interactions
DID YOU KNOW?
Here are some fascinating health facts and stories to think about while you’re in the waiting room. Click the links to learn more. The more you know…
Hypnosis is a legitimate, evidence-backed treatment for certain conditions.
It can take women with endometriosis up to 10 years to get a diagnosis.
This year researchers mapped how the brain changes over the course of an entire pregnancy — for the first time. In human history.
Set it and (for a year at least) forget it
Look who found the time for preventive health. You got informed and maybe even motivated, booked your appointments in one sprint, and prepped to get the guidance that will keep you healthy going forward.
Now for the last step: Click here to set automatic calendar reminders to book the appointments you need next year. Bonus points for pasting the link to our Don’t Wait page into the reminder, so it’s easy to see what you need as you age. Then set all of this aside until you get an alert next year. Your future self thanks you.
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