National Call Your Doctor Day Date in the current year: June 11, 2024

National Call Your Doctor Day was inaugurated in 2016 by Bright Pink, a nonprofit organization that focuses on breast and ovarian cancer prevention. In was founded by Lindsay Avner, the youngest woman in the United States to undergo a double mastectomy to reduce the risk of developing breast cancer that ran in her family due to a BRCA mutation.

The reason why National Call Your Doctor Day is celebrated mid-year is that a lot of women tend to delay routine care, placing their reproductive health at the bottom of their priorities list. However, reproductive health is not something you can take lightly regardless of whether you’re planning to have children or not. A lot of potentially deadly reproductive health problems can be easily prevented or cured if detected early.

So the main goal of National Call Your Doctor Day is to encourage women to schedule the annual Well-Woman exam. The Well-Woman exam is a woman’s first line defense against reproductive diseases. Ideally, you should schedule your first exam as soon as you become sexually active or turn 21, whatever happens first, and undergo it every year after that.

The Well-Woman exam consists of four main parts. The first part is the physical exam identical to a routine test primary care providers perform to check overall health. It includes a brief review of your medical history, a number of routine questions and checks, and sometimes taking a blood or urine sample.

Then comes the breast exam where your gynecologist will examine your breasts for lumps and other abnormalities. It helps detect benign and cancerous breast tumors at early stages. Your doctor will also teach you how to examine your breasts on your own in between your annual Well-Woman exams. You should perform a self-examination every month and schedule an appointment with your gynecologist if you detect any abnormalities.

The third part of the Well-Woman exam is the pelvic exam. It is used to check for signs of disease in your vulva and internal reproductive organs such as inflammatory reproductive conditions, STIs and UTIs, and early stages of cancer. Finally, the gynecologist will perform a Pap test; they will gently scrap some tissue from your cervix and have it checked for signs of cervical cancer.

If you haven’t scheduled your annual Well-Woman exam yet, do it on the second Tuesday of June. It is also a great occasion to thank your OB/GYN for their professionalism and care. If you don’t have a gynecologist yet, it is high time to request a list of doctors form your health insurance provider and make an appointment with one of them.

Finally, you can encourage your female friends to schedule their yearly checkups and spread awareness about the observance on social media using the hashtag #CallYourDoctorDay to remind people that it is much easier to prevent most illnesses than it is to treat them.