June 06, 2025

The Importance of Primary Care in La Grange, KY

Christopher Sperry MD La Grange
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A primary care provider is a provider that is able to address most general health needs as well as helps coordinate and collaborates with others' physicians and specialists to help address the patient's needs. It is very important that you see your primary care provider annually based on the fact that your health risk can change from year to year. So during an annual physical, we can do various testing testing to help assess what patients may be facing. They might not be able to see on the outside a problem that's going on the inside. Hypertension is a big thing that often goes unnoticed. A lot of times, blood pressure can be very elevated and patients have no idea idea until a complication arises. During your annual physical, we can do annual fasting labs, which helps us check cholesterol screening as well as your liver and kidney function, as well as glucose, and see if we're maybe diabetic or prediabetic.

One of the biggest things that affect our physical health is our mental health. And so addressing those needs are just as important as addressing any physical needs that'll be coming up as their annual physical. Being a provider at Baptist gives us access to more resources to help address patients' needs, such as advanced imaging, access to specialists, and also different ancillary services like physical therapy. We also have community health workers that can help support the patients in certain situations where they might need extra assistance.

Treating patients in primary care is very rewarding for me because I enjoy getting to know my patients, developing that one on one patient relationship, and seeing life on life changes that improve people's health.

The Importance of Primary Care in La Grange, KY Healthtalk Transcript

Christopher Sperry, MD, Family Medicine
Baptist Health La Grange

Christopher Sperry, MD:

A primary care provider is a provider who is able to address most general health needs, as well as help coordinate and collaborate with other physicians and specialists to address the patient's needs.

It is very important that you see your primary care provider annually based on the fact that your health risk can change from year to year. During an annual physical, we can do various testing to help assess what patients may be facing. They might not be able to see on the outside a problem that's on the inside. Hypertension is a big thing that often goes unnoticed. A lot of times blood pressure can be very elevated, and patients have no idea until a complication arises. During your annual physical, we can do annual fasting labs, which help us check cholesterol, your liver and kidney function, as well as glucose, and see if we're maybe diabetic or prediabetic.

One of the biggest things that affects our physical health is our mental health. Addressing those needs is just as important as addressing any physical needs that come up at the annual physical.

Being a provider at Baptist Health gives us access to more resources to help address patient's needs such as advanced imaging, access to specialists, and also different ancillary services like physical therapy. We also have community health workers who can help support the patients in certain situations where they might need extra assistance. Treating patients in primary care is very rewarding for me because I enjoy getting to know my patients, developing that one-on-one patient relationship, and seeing life-on-life changes that improve people's health.

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