(Music) I'm at a quest lab in Fort
Lauderdale Florida where you can get your
blood drawn and your lab work done.
Look familiar?
This is one of the draw room
where you sit in the chair like this one
and I'm sure you've seen these supplies
before especially the collection tube
and you wait for a phlebotomist who
finds the best thing you have and draws
your blood.
Meet Dr. Jay Wohlgemuth of
Quest Diagnostics who this morning will
be discussing the importance of lab work
and your health.
Doctor thanks so much
for having us here.
Thanks for coming to
Quest Diagnostics.
Let's talk about what
lab work reveals about ourselves and our
bodies.
Well lab work informs on what's
going on in your body if you're having
symptoms and something's going on with
you lab work often can lead to the
answer but just as important if you're
feeling fine there may be something
going on in you which you need to know
about so you can intervene and prevent
you know bad outcomes in the future.
So we're talking about possibly
arming ourselves to detect and
diagnose.
Right you may have symptoms you may
not, but in both cases diagnostic testing
can be really valuable.
So in a case like for me
once that I was feeling weak and my
hemoglobin was low hence anemic, that's a
perfect example right?
That's a great
example.
I had this very similar thing
but I had no symptoms I had a blood test
and had vitamin D deficiency.
Okay.
So I was really glad to know that so
I could treat myself and prevent a hip
fracture someday in the future.
So let's talk
about more underlying diseases some that
you may not be aware of a little bit
more serious until you do the blood work.
Well one of the misunderstandings about
lab testing is a lot of people say “well
I feel fine right so why should I be
tested?” However.
However cancer is
treatable and curable if detected at an
early stage and most diseases are like
that if you can detect it early you have
a much better chance of preventing bad
outcomes and preventing progression.
A great example be hepatitis C, 3
million Americans have it.
And they don't know it.
Almost nobody knows but if you don't do
something about it it can go on to liver
failure, cancer and there are curative
therapies available, so you may be feel
fine but you need to be tested you know to
see if that's going on to prevent you
know bad outcomes in the future.
So if it's so
important why aren't people going to get
the lab work which I think nowadays it's
suggested once a year or twice a year?
It depends on your situation at
least once a year there's a set of labs.
So why
are we doing it?
You know I think there
are two important factors at least one
of which is convenience I mean it has to
be convenient.
People don't want to go
out of their way, they don't want to
schedule an extra appointment, drive in
and park and so we're doing a lot to try
to make it more convenient like putting
labs into supermarkets, making it
possible for people to collect their own
sample at home and send it into the
laboratory.
Oh that's fantastic.
Yeah it's really helpful to make sure it's
really convenient for people so that
that hurdle is lower so that they'll
participate, but the other thing is some
people are scared of needles.
There are many people that, I don't like
them I'll do it I don't like, my kids
can't stand them.
So people avoid it, a lot of kids
are very scared as well so we have
alternative sample types we can use for
that but we also have our friend quiggles.
Quiggles?
Quiggles is cute and I'll let you,
I'll let you take a look at him but what
that does is it allows us to distract.
How does it work?
Turn it on here
with this button and the vibration next
to the vein makes essentially the needle
painless.
And it's vibrating.
And it's vibrating so it's a distraction
and it actually.
It tickles a little.
It removes the pain it really helps to help distract
and help children in particular you know
have their blood drawn.
So they may not see
the needle or maybe feel it as much.
They really don't feel it as much.
What a great idea, and for adults too?
It works for adults and they work
for you too.
Let's talk also about the mobile health
app my quest that's very helpful.
My quest is an application you can load
onto your mobile phone and what it
allows is for you to actually receive
your diagnostic data directly not having
to call your doctor but it also allows
you to schedule your appointments and
keep all of your records or maybe the
records of your kids or maybe someone
you're taking care of like your husband
or or your mother and that's
incredibly useful to have that information
with you at all times and when you walk
into the doctor you now have your
diagnostic results that you can share right
there on on your phone.
So there really is no
more excuses I mean it's much more
convenient it's easy it's less painful
if you will and affordable.
All of those
things and most importantly highly
important to prevent bad outcomes in
your life, prolong your life, and reduce
you know reduce disease burdens.
My hemoglobin is back to 14 now so
I'm good to go.
Hey I raised my vitamin D level and I'm
back in the normal range.
Excellent thank you so much for your time.
Thank you.
Now I know next time you're coming to our
studio.
I'm going to come back.
I know we're gonna be
talking about genetic testing and?
And personalized medicine.
Excellent again
doctor thank you so.
Thank you and if
you'd like more information on lab work
or Wuest Diagnostics you can go to their
website that's Wuest Diagnostics dot com
slash patients or check out our website
the balancing act com.
(Music)