Throughout the month of August, Navy Medicine will focus on the long-term health and vitality of Sailors, Marines, their families and retirees by stressing the importance of being proactive partners in their health.

Sailors, Marines and their families are encouraged to be hands-on instead of reactive to their health needs and recognize healthy Sailors and Marines complete their missions.

Navy Medicine is committed to ensuring the health and fitness of Sailors and Marines.

"Early detection is the best prevention," said Lt. Cmdr. Jaime Vega, U.S. Navy Bureau of Medicine and Surgery preventive medicine.

Living a healthy lifestyle and receiving regular checkups, screenings and vaccinations are critical to prevention or avoiding becoming sick or hurt altogether. Healthy lifestyle choices to consider are practicing good nutrition, exercising, avoiding tobacco use, and limiting alcohol consumption.

"Receiving the correct age-appropriate preventive care is crucial to Sailors and Marines staying healthy and leading productive lives," said Vega. "By increasing our focus on prevention we ultimately increase the quality of life, readiness of the warfighter and their family, and the health of our nation."

Navy Medicine is a global health care network of 63,000 personnel that provides health care support to the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, their families and veterans in high operational tempo environments, at expeditionary medical facilities, medical treatment facilities, hospitals, clinics, hospital ships and research units around the world.

For more information, visit http://www.navy.mil, http://www.facebook.com/usnavy, or http://www.twitter.com/usnavy.

For more news from Navy Medicine, visit http://www.navy.mil/.