Community
13 June, 2024
The men who make the service
TERANG and Mortlake Health Service (TMHS) has offered male staff a special gift with a local twist as part of International Men’s Health Week.
TMHS this week gifted a copy of Dr Bernie Crimmins’ book ‘Blokes Health’ and a tote bag full of health related items and information to staff as a thank you for their dedicated efforts, and a reminder how important it is to keep good health a priority.
Dr Crimmins is among the foremost respected voices on the subject of men’s health, combining wonderful humour with his knowledge as a doctor to encourage men to be more open with their health, and combat the all-too-common trend of men keeping their health issues quiet.
“We are giving our 16 men a men’s health book that was written by Dr Bernie Crimmins,” TMHS health promotion officer Tanya Glossop said.
“Dr Crimmins used to do a lot of locuming in Terang.
“We’re happy to present a copy of his book to our staff – it is a comedy-type book which explores issues relevant to men’s health and provides information on how to improve outcomes.”
TMHS also dedicated pages in its June newsletter to celebrate male staff and draw attention to some difficult facts on the subject.
This includes men on average dying six years younger than women.
Men are also five times more likely to die from heart disease, 50 per cent of men are diagnosed with cancer before their 85th birthday, one in three suicides are men, and men comprise 93 per cent of workplace deaths.
The newsletter also contains information as to how outcomes can be improved by promoting regular health check-ups, enhancing mental health support, encouraging healthy lifestyles and embracing health campaigns focussed on specific issues prevalent in men such as prostate health, heart disease and mental health.
“We want to reduce the disparity between the average life expectancy between males and females,” Ms Glossop said.
“Ways that we can do that are by encouraging the fellas to use national screening programs like bowel screen.
“It is important to have annual health checks that include heart health, diabetes and prostate screening, and for men to understand they should do that at any age.”
