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Family Health History: The Story That Protects Your Future · Talking FACS

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  Welcome to Talking FACS, what you need to know about family,
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  food, finance, and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized, award-winning podcast is hosted by the University
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  of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals, families,
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  and communities to improve quality of life.
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  When we think about the stories our family tells, we often hear stories about
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  where you came from or the places you've lived or the traditions you passed down.
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  I know my family loves to go back to the old homes that we lived in and drive
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  past them just to see how they've changed as time has passed.
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  But now, if you imagine there's a part of your story that could actually protect
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  your future who would not want to be involved in that part of the story.
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  You're listening to Talking FACS, and we share information you can use to strengthen
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  your family, your community, and your state.
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  I'm your host, Mindy McCulley, Extension Specialist for Instructional Support
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  with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  My guest today is Dr. Monica Mundy, Assistant Extension Professor for Community and Family Health.
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  In my intro, we talked about this thing that could protect our future,
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  and that is our family health history.
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  So, Monica, would you just share with us why it's so important to know the story?
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  One of the things that, you know, we all love to do as a family is get together
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  and gather and talk from time to time, right?
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  This is one of those topics that sometimes can be hard to broach and to ask. And so...
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  When we think about some of the health issues that every family might experience
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  or could experience, could be heart disease, diabetes,
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  even mental health, typically when these events happen, it's just not random.
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  There are clues there. And when we kind of pay attention to some of those clues,
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  that can help us make some different choices for health, thinking about what
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  might be the right screening, when it might be.
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  Great, perfect to have that screening, or even being able to prevent illness before it starts.
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  And so one of those pieces is kind of having and knowing your health history,
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  if it's possible to do that.
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  And so that's just broaching that conversation and really talking with your
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  families. And so I just want to talk a little bit about how to make that conversation
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  happen and how to make it a bit easier.
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  It's not necessarily something that we talk about unless some big event happens.
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  You know, if someone is diagnosed with cancer or someone has a heart attack
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  or those sorts of things, then yes, probably the whole family knows about that, right?
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  But you know, if you're just going to the doctor and getting checkups and you
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  find out that you have a little high blood pressure or you have,
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  you know, your cholesterol is a little high, that might not be something that you talk about.
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  But if it's impacting your health and it could be impacting future generations
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  or it could be a result of previous generations, it's good to know what that what that means, right?
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  For sure. And that's why there's some good times to kind of broach the conversation.
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  Like you said, not waiting until one of those major health events happen for
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  us to start coming together as a family and talking about what could be impacting
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  our health. And so really.
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  You don't need any special occasion. You could be at a family gathering.
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  Maybe it's a birthday party or a reunion.
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  Maybe you have a doctor's appointment that's coming, especially if you're seeing
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  a new provider because you'll need to give a very detailed history to them as well.
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  It could be for a life milestone, and it doesn't just have to be,
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  you know, when you're a little older.
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  It could be when you're turning 18, 30, pregnancy. a lot of these life events that we have.
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  Or, unfortunately, it could be after a diagnosis in the family,
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  like we've kind of talked about as well.
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  I was going to just say, how do you bring it up? You know, sometimes it might
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  be a little awkward to say, so tell me about your health history.
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  When you really want to start that conversation, start small, right?
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  You might just choose one or two trusted relatives that you have at first.
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  And, you know, maybe it's your mom or your grandma who seems to really know
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  the family history and know some past stories as well.
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  You want to be honest as to why you want to have that conversation.
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  It could be filling out medical forms or, you know, just trying to make sure
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  that you're living a healthier lifestyle and you have all the information that
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  you need. So there are just some sample lines you can use to get the conversation started, right?
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  I want to help us all stay healthy or I'm learning about our family health history
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  so I can take better care of myself and always pick the right time.
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  It definitely doesn't have to be something that's forced or you don't want it
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  to be rushed or stressful at all.
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  So it could be after a meal or during a walk
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  or maybe when you're looking at old photos and reminiscing
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  as a family and you want to be kind and
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  respectful and know that you know sometimes this topic
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  is tough to have and might be
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  uncomfortable for some family members to have
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  as well and then you know make it a two-way conversation active listen you may
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  not have the opportunity to ask questions in that moment it may not feel right
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  but you can also share your own experiences open up that dialogue blog as well.
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  Sometimes it's not enough just to have the conversation, because as I get older,
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  I find that I don't remember things as well as I should.
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  So is it okay to take notes?
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  Yeah, and sometimes you just have to write it down,
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  but you want to make sure that you just ask before you do and get permission,
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  just to keep the lines of communication open so your family member knows that,
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  you know, we're all not as sharp as we used to be.
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  And just, you know, so we can pass that along.
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  It might be that we're not writing it on a piece of paper.
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  We might be, you know, putting it into an app or, you know, doing something
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  like that. So just to make sure that everybody's aware of what you're doing.
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  Before we started recording, we talked about the fact that my husband's adopted
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  and we found out that there's probably heart disease in his family when he had a heart attack.
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  And so that is not the time really to find out about it.
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  But if you are not in that situation, then you really do want to have that discussion.
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  So what are some other reasons about why it's so important to have these conversations?
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  Well, because while we do associate a lot of our family health history with
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  our genes, sometimes it can be our lifestyle.
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  A good example is if you had someone or has someone that smokes in your home.
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  That can give you an increased risk of lung cancer,
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  making sure even if it may not be a loved one by genetics, it still could be
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  worthwhile having that conversation for some of those lifestyle and environmental factors.
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  You know, family history isn't just about, as you said, the genes,
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  but it's also the lifestyle. So if we have more information,
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  we're empowered to make changes if we need to do that.
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  As we wrap up, do you have final thoughts that you want to share?
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  I do. Really just thinking about those best times to bring it up.
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  And remember, just to start small, be honest, be kind, and just ask if you can
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  jot those things down so that you can share those at future visits.
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  Yeah, I know how important this is because I have seen it in action in my family.
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  And, of course, in my extended family as well.
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  And so I do hope that our listeners will take the time to learn.
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  Monica, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us today.
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  Oh, thank you for having me. If you are just tuning in, you're listening to
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  Talking FACS, and you can find us on all the platforms where you listen to
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  your favorite podcasts.
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  Thank you for listening to Talking FACS. We deliver programs focusing on nutrition,
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  health, resource management, family development, and civic engagement.
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  If you enjoyed today's podcast, have a question, or a show topic idea,
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  leave a like and a comment on Facebook at UKFCSEXT, or send us an email at UKFCSEXT@UKY.edu.
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  Visit us online at fcs.uky.edu to learn more about the University of Kentucky
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  Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program or contact your local extension
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  agent for Family and Consumer Sciences.
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  We build strong families. We build Kentucky. It starts with us.