What’s Up, Doc? With Dr. Raju Shanmugum

This week's episode was "The importance of primary care."

Most of us have obviously been to "a" doctor but unfortunately, not all of us have been to "our" doctor. That's the purpose of having a primary care physician.

That's what Dr. Shanmugam came on the show to explain to us today.

Dr. Shanmugam described the primary physician as the gatekeeper for other specialists. They are the ones who really get to know you and also know the ins and outs of the medical community. They can also be a vital part of any healthy family.

When I was growing up, my doctor was Dr. Johnson. He was also my mom's doctor. He was also her mom's doctor. He was also my grandmother's mom's doctor. He was also my great-grandmother's mom's doctor towards the end of her life. He was almost as much of a member of the family, as some distant cousins. He knew everything about our family and that helped him diagnose and predict what might be wrong with one of us just because he had seen it before in a past generation.

Dr. Shanmugam also goes through the process of how you should pick a primary physician if you don't have one already.

It can really be a lifelong benefit for anyone to have a more personalized relationship with their doctor.

You can hear a new What's Up, Doc? every Thursday morning at 8:35 on 1440 WROK. What's Up, Doc? is sponsored by MercyHealth. We love working with MercyHealth and what to thank them as always for providing us with a new informative guest every week.