June is Men’s Health Month, a program heightening the awareness of early detection, physical and mental health among men and boys nationally.
Health care provider Anthem BlueCross and BlueShield has partnered with PACE, an organization that helps ex-offenders reintegrate into society, to provide a Men’s Health Fair featuring confidential free health screenings and more on June, 29 from 11:00-2:00 p.m. at the Genesis Plaza on Keystone Ave.
The goal will be to promote health among men who, as studies show, have greater chances of ignoring visits to the doctor, leading to higher death rates of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and suicide.
Bill West, chairman of the board of directors for PACE, said the fair is likely to be the first of many. Once people become comfortable discussing their health concerns, he said, individuals will begin to see the benefits.
“If you don’t have health you don’t have anything,” West said. Still, some of the programs, like the counseling services, are sometimes harder to promote.
“When individuals come back some of them have issues mental and physical,” he said. “Mental health screenings are a challenge because many people don’t want to acknowledge substance abuse, depression, drugs, or many aren’t able to acknowledge it all.”
West noted some returning citizens having higher cases of traumatic brain injuries.
Nonetheless, the counseling sessions, sexually transmitted disease tests, employment services and information sessions will provide a wide range of services for the men who attend the fair.
Marcus White, a marketing and health promotions manager at Anthem, said the health fair will remind men to attend regular checkups as well.
“A lot of times [men] put health last. We don’t want to go to the doctor. We wait until we have to go,” he said. “As a young man you can feel invincible. You think you’re not going to get sick.”
White said an extra motivation men can use to promote health is to “acknowledge the fact you need to go for yourself and family.”
“This isn’t about just the physical man, but the whole man.”
