We all should take time to see the doctor at least once a year, but this especially applies to people 50 years and older.

Exercise means at least 30 minutes a day. Eating the right foods means to eat five to seven servings of fruits and vegetables, trimming the fat off the meat, and limiting the bread (use whole-grain products), potatoes, noodles and sweets.

Our vital signs can be a little more challenging. Be sure to attend any health fairs at your business or in your community. Also, an added benefit of donating blood to the Red Cross is that you can get your blood pressure checked.

But here's some more good news. Starting this month, individuals can go to Wellness Works/Por Su Salud at the Conestoga Mall and get their vital signs checked on a telehealth monitor that has been installed there.

Those who sign up for the telehealth monitor program will receive a swipe card, which will enable them to check their weight, blood pressure, pulse and oxygen level. In addition, this information will be stored on a computer and the trended data sent to their family physician upon his or her request.

Wellness Works/Por Su Salud will host a blood screening clinic from 8 to 10 a.m. Friday, May 7. That is a good time for residents to view the equipment or sign up for the program. Further information is available by calling 398-5050.

This is how the monitor works:

An individual enrolls and uses a personal swipe card, which enables the machine to recognize the user and provide readings each time he or she comes into Wellness Works. The equipment is easy to use and the machine uses a voice to instruct the user what to do. The machine only displays the user's readings on a screen for privacy reasons.

Once the user is finished, he or she pushes a button to transmit the data to a central computer that is read by a nurse at St. Francis Home Care Services. The nurse checks the computer once a day. If a trend is abnormal, the nurse can contact the user and discuss reasons for the trend and may advise the individual to see his or her physician.

For those with chronic diseases or other health problems, the trended data is stored at the central station and can be requested by the participant to be sent to the physician's office for ongoing monitoring of a patient's health.

The readings will enable the doctor to know more about a patient's health over an extended period of time and will lead to an earlier detection of a problem, if one shows up. As with automobiles, more can be done when problems are discovered early.

The use of the telehealth monitor is a valuable tool for those with chronic diseases such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes and lung diseases. Those with a family history of these diseases, and even healthy older residents ,should consider enrollment in the telehealth monitor program.

Earlier this year St. Francis Medical Center also installed telehealth monitor stations at the senior centers in Aurora, Central City and St. Paul as part of its Staying Well at Home (SWAH) Project, which has been funded through a $375,000 Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant awarded to the St. Francis Foundation.

The purpose of the grant is to keep area residents, especially those with chronic diseases, from having to go through frequent readmissions to the hospitals because of health emergencies. Often emergencies can be avoided through regular monitoring of vital signs and symptoms.

For example, if trended data shows high blood pressure readings occurring, then the physician will know to make an adjustment in medication. If a diabetic shows unexplained weight loss, the physician might want to complete an immediate and thorough exam of the patient.

The project also involves patient education. In addition to the monitoring, Wellness Works/Por Su Salud offers information about how to manage chronic disease, including computer access to approved health sites. Wellness Works also provides regular monthly meetings for those with diabetes or heart disease.

We all know that aging is a natural process and nobody gets out alive. But as we grow older, we also know that we want to postpone that date as long as possible. In addition, we want to have a good quality of life as we grow older.

The best way to live longer and better is to know as much as possible about how to take care of ourselves and to get health measurements whenever and wherever we can. For those who want to take advantage, there's another important health tool in our community.

Bill Brennan is grants development coordinator at St. Francis Medical Center.