November is when many of us get together with family to enjoy the beginning of the holidays, often with traditions that go back for generations.  Start a new tradition this year by talking about your family’s health history.  Many chronic health conditions have a genetic component, passed down from parent to child.  Looking at your health history can help identify common diseases - heart disease, cancer, and diabetes - and rare diseases - like hemophilia, cystic fibrosis, and sickle cell anemia – that can run in families. If one generation of a family has high blood pressure, it is not unusual for the next generation to have similarly high blood pressure.

 A recent survey found that 96 percent of Americans believe that knowing their family history is important. Yet, the same survey found that only one-third of Americans have ever tried to gather and write down their family’s health history. Each year since 2004, the Surgeon General has declared Thanksgiving to be National Family History Day. Over the holiday or at other times when families gather, the Surgeon General encourages Americans to talk about, and to write down, the health problems that seem to run in their family. Learning about their family’s health history may help ensure a longer, healthier future together.

Are you interested in helping make Taylorsville a healthy place to live? Join the Healthy Taylorsville Committee as a volunteer.  You don’t need a health background, just a desire to help make healthy choices available to all of our residents.  Contact us at [email protected] for more details.