TYLER, Texas — Net Health is promoting new services with ultimate goal of getting men to go to the doctor for health screenings.
"I know a lot of men do not want to go and get just a simple blood pressure screening," Salvador Marquez, Program Coordinator at Net Health in Tyler said. "They usually say, 'Oh, that's not for me. You know, I can't take days off of work.' But it's like, if you take at least one day off of work just to go get your numbers that will help you in the long run."
More than 33% of men over the age of 20 suffer from hypertension, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC also says that women are 100% more likely than their male counterparts to visit the doctor for prevention tests and screenings.
Marquez says this is a statistic that must change.
"They come in for screenings because they're not feeling well, or because their wife or someone told them to come in," Marquez said. "They come in, sometimes their blood pressure is high and with that, that their cholesterol can be high. But they just go walking around thinking it's normal"
Net Health is promoting their new program, CommUNITY Cares, which gives referrals for primary care physicians to people without insurance.
"In case the men that come in do not have a primary care doctor, or clinic that they go to, we also have community cares," Marquez explained. "It's a new program that recently started, where we can get men established with a primary care provider or a doctor. And then that way, they can see their doctor, they have their numbers before they go."
CommUNITY Cares is a free program to enroll in, however you are responsible for any costs that are associated with the doctor's visit.
For more information. you can visit the Net Health website.