Wellness & Prevention
At the IMC we offer a variety of wellness exams to optimize your health. Our exams are designed to complement and expand on the annual exam your regular doctor provides. We will provide you and your regular doctor with all the information gathered from your wellness exam.
Our Basic Wellness exam includes two visits, an initial assessment and a follow up visit. During the initial visit we review your history, perform a physical exam, and order appropriate tests. During the follow up visit we review all the information and make our recommendations.
The Executive Wellness exam includes everything in the Basic Wellness exam with the addition of seeing our dietician and personal athletic trainer for a more detailed assessment.
The Premier Wellness exam enters you into the Premier Program in which you see our entire team of providers, including everyone in the Executive Wellness program with the addition of seeing our naturopathic doctor, acupuncturist and behavioral health specialist. We then formally collaborate and develop treatment recommendations as one unified team.
The Cardiac Wellness exam is an added referral to our cardiologist. It provides a specialty exam should we find any concerns regarding your heart or vascular system, or if you simply would like the highest level of cardiac health screening.
What is a wellness exam?
A wellness exam focuses on the early detection and prevention of disease. It is a special visit designed to help you achieve and maintain optimal health. We screen for common diseases that can affect anyone, such as heart disease or cancer. We also screen for specific diseases that an individual is more likely to get because of their family history or behavioral habits. Based on what we find or what is more likely to occur we then offer recommendations on avoiding these problems.
The intent of a wellness exam is to find health problems early in order to have a better chance at fixing them. The best scenario is to predict health problems before they even start!
What is included in a basic wellness exam?
A basic wellness exam includes a comprehensive health history to screen for diseases you are be more likely to develop. Important elements include:
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Family History – inherited diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, or cancers
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Occupational & Travel History
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Social History
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Nutrition and Exercise
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Habits – high risk behaviors such as smoking, drug or alcohol use
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Behavioral Health – personal, social, family & spiritual relationships
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Medical & Surgical History – specific health problems already encountered
A basic wellness exam also includes a detailed physical exam. This includes the four basics you are probably familiar with by watching your doctor perform them, such as:
Inspecting (looking) carefully at the many physical signs of health
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Palpating (feeling) for tender areas, or cancers of the breast or prostate
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Percussing (tapping) to determine size of organs or dull areas
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Auscultating (listening) for abnormalities of the heart, lungs, abdomen or vessels
The physical exam is limited by the examination skills of your provider and by the time they have to fully implement their skills.
What makes our wellness exams different?
Our Basic Exam is more thorough and takes more time. We schedule one hour for your exam instead of the usual 15 to 30 minutes. We take the time to review your history in greater detail, incorporating every aspect that affects your health. Our physician, Dr. Rollins, has more extensive training in the detection of age related diseases, especially those that relate to early hormone and nutritional deficiencies. His extensive background in Family Practice and Anti-Aging enable him to detect abnormalities that are often overlooked during a typical check up.
With our expanded exams, the Executive, Premier and Cardiac, we incorporate other providers at the IMC in order to provide you with the latest specialty knowledge from the various fields of health care.
Screening tests. We offer more comprehensive screening tests that might include blood tests for hormones, nutrients, food allergies, cardiac risk factors, or cancer markers. We might do urine analysis for heavy metals or brain neurotransmitter levels. We can do stool analysis for markers of gut health. We frequently perform tests such as an ultrasound or CT scan to look for artery disease.
Specialist referrals. We are quite familiar with the many fine specialists in the Grand Valley and should the need arise, we are happy to arrange necessary referrals.
To achieve and maintain total health it is critical to have a prevention plan. Most of the diseases of aging are predictable and preventable - we intend to help you not only live longer but to live better!