Entering into marriage calls for much organisation: buying the ring, setting the date, naming the best man, planning the big day, choosing the honeymoon destination. In recent times, as if the modern bride hadn’t enough to do, the addition of pre-nuptials is increasingly an issue, as too is health.
Health is something we all take for granted, until it isn’t there. In a trend that is proving popular in the States and which is sure to come over here, is the health check for newly engaged couples. As many couples maintain, it is more a question of prudence than pessimism.
Catering for this popular demand is the newly opened health centre, The Well, in Beacon Clinic located in the Sandyford Industrial Estate in South County Dublin. This state-of-the-art health clinic provides the most thorough and time efficient medicals available in the private sector. Taking approximately three hours the patient also receives results of blood tests done at the beginning of the session.
As Anna-Lise Mion, marketing executive at The Well explains: “Not only is the hectic pace of life today compromising our health, it also makes it difficult for us to find the time to do anything about it. We often forget to look after our own health or that of our loved ones unless something goes wrong. In fact, we are more likely to have our car serviced than to look after ourselves.”
The Well has developed two executive medicals aimed at business people, stressed executives and concerned professionals – in short anyone with an interest in confirming their well being and also looking at ways to extend that well being.
Both medicals incorporate the latest technology and practices. They involve a complete head-to-toe physical examination, heart and lung assessment, hearing, vision screen tests, a comprehensive battery of blood tests, and a stress and lifestyle analysis. At the end of the medical, all test results are explained in detail by the doctor.
A key differentiator in the experience of attending The Well is the inclusion of lifestyle consultation which forms an integral part of the medical. This consultation, which lasts a full hour, examines diet, exercise, nutrition and fitness.
Based on this consultation, information, including an examination of dietary habits, is used to put together a personalised lifestyle prescription. Results of other tests carried out during a visit are also taken into account in formulating an individual’s action plan for well-being.
Much care is given to the softer side of medical care according to Mion. “People can often feel rather vulnerable when they come for a medical. They are uncertain of the outcome and have worries before they start. Our multi-disciplinary team is very aware of this and welcome questions and queries during a visit. Using the latest technology through an integrated pathology service means that results of tests are available before the medical is completed and are explained by the doctor in detail during the consultation. That week long wait for a blood test result need no longer be.
“Our emphasis at ‘The Well’ has been on the whole idea of wellness, well-being and overall health of the individual. Health goes beyond the absence of disease or infirmity.
“We do not want just to tell our clients that they are fine but we want also to empower them and try and instil in them a sense of responsibility for their own health. If they are pro-active now, it will have long-term effects. The lifestyle consultation is particularly helpful in this regard.”
Newly engaged couple Patricia and Michael attended The Well after they became engaged but before their wedding.
Patricia wanted to attend not only to confirm her own health but to find out ways of minimising stress leading up to the big day. “I wanted to optimise my diet and health regime so that I would be healthy, stress free and blooming for my wedding. Previously, the extent of my ‘lifestyle planning’ had been to join weight watchers,” laughs Patricia. “However, I was able to confirm I was healthy before taking advice on how to sparkle on the day. The last thing I wanted to do was crash diet and get stressed – no doubt I’d have ended up with spots and extra lines!”
Michael is pretty pragmatic about the visit. “I liked the fact that all the results came back before the end of the session,” he said. “My overall fitness is not that bad – but could be improved – and I am going back to opticians to have my eyes re tested. The medical may have saved my life through discovering my glasses prescription needed changing!”
Both were happy to attend The Well and found the staff very welcoming.
“I see it as a treat – that also makes practical sense,” says Michael. “The only other medicals I attended were for insurance purposes and I must confess I spent as much time avoiding questions than asking them. This time, I was able to run through all those niggles and small worries I had and, fortunately, they were nothing more than that.
“I’d recommend anyone to attend The Well – and not just for getting married. For peace of mind,” he says.
For more details, please visit†¦
‘The Well” Beacon Clinic
Sandyford Industrial Estate
Dublin 18
Tel: +353 1 2945444
Fax: +353 1 294466
Web www.thewell.ie
