You choose your family clinic because you’re familiar with their methods and feel comfortable, but you also have to wait in line behind a dozen other patients. You could swing by the emergency room, but that could net you a bill that’ll take months to pay off. When you need to meet with compassionate family care providers on short notice, visiting an urgent care clinic or signing up with a family doctor can take the sting out of medical care. This can range from providing pain relief for a painful headache or referring you to a specialist for a check-up.

You should never be stressed out about your healthcare. Here’s what you should look into this year.

STD Testing Kits

What’s a medical resource you should take advantage of regularly? STD testing kits should be high on the list, even if you haven’t been sexually active for a while. The cost of STD testing more than pays for itself in the long-run, as one of the worst things you can do is assume you’re good to go. While some STDs are more frustrating than anything, others can be incredibly painful and even deadly. In lieu of a home STD testing kit your community health clinic will have the resources you need to keep your health in check.

Moderate Illnesses

Have you been struggling with chronic migraines that just won’t go away? Is your flu starting to reach a point that’s worrying you? Your emergency walk in clinic can prove a useful resource when you’re short on time and feeling your worst. It’s not just a high fever that should have you reaching out for help, either. Mental health can rise and dip throughout the year depending on various factors, all of which can be helped by a certified medical professional. The Centers For Disease Control And Prevention found the rates of depression in elderly patients, in particular, range from 3% to 15%.

Moderate Injuries

The difference between the emergency room and a reliable walk in urgent care clinic is a few hundred dollars. Sometimes more. Knowing when and where to go will go a long way in keeping you in the green while still providing high quality medical care. Your average urgent care center sees a wide variety of injuries, including burns, cuts, sprains, fractures and bruises. A recent study found the mean wait time in emergency rooms having one up by a quarter between 2003 to 2009, to nearly an hour on average. Compare this to urgent care centers, where over half boast a wait time of 15 minutes.

Cancer Screening

Alongside STD testing kits it’s recommended you go for a cancer screening. Breast cancer, prostate cancer and skin cancer are all on the rise, exacerbated by a lack of knowledge and even lifestyle habits. The popularity of tanning and gradual depletion of the atmosphere’s protective ozone layer, for example, have seen skin cancer rates tripling since 1975. The majority of doctors agree that sun damage can contribute as much as 80% of skin aging at best, with constant unprotected exposure running a high risk of developing melanoma. Healthcare isn’t just reactive, but proactive.

Choosing The Right Medical Resources

Every time you come down with an illness that won’t quite go away or receive an injury that has you double-checking your insurance plan, it results in the same question…which medical resource is best? Should you sign up for an appointment at a family health clinic or are you better off dropping by the emergency room? When it comes to minor and moderate injuries or illnesses, an urgent care clinic is your best bet. When you want preventative measures like STD testing kits or screenings? You can visit your family doctor and be referred to a specialist.

You have options. Make sure you use the right ones and save some money while receiving the medical attention you need.

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