Let’s face it – men just don’t take as good care of themselves as they should sometimes.
That includes seeing their doctor for their annual checkup, when many health problems can be identified through screening and treated before they become more serious, or even life-threatening.
To help inspire men to have an annual physical and raise awareness about men’s health issues such as prostate cancer and colorectal cancer, Griffin Hospital will be launching the “Health Initiative for Men” (HiM), a new community-wide preventive health care effort.
A kickoff meeting was held Wednesday at the Center for Cancer Care on Seymour Avenue in Derby.
The hospital presented data on the incidence of prostate and colorectal cancer in the Lower Naugatuck Valley, introduced some of the HiM’s community and physician leaders, and discussed plans for the effort, which include distributing free Father’s Day card inserts promoting health screenings throughout the Valley.
An insert is posted below. Article continues after the document.
“The goal of the HiM is to influence men to see their physician annually, and to be screened for various diseases that respond better to treatment if detected early,” said Patrick Charmel, Griffin President and CEO.
“We are launching this effort, in large part, as a response to recent data, which indicate that men in the Valley have significantly higher rates of mortality than men in Connecticut on average for both prostate cancer and colorectal cancer,” Charmel said.
The HiM is being modeled after the successful Women’s Health Initiative, which Griffin Hospital has supported over the past 10-plus years to increase awareness, screening rates, and availability of resources to help treat diseases affecting women, according to Stephanie Wain, MD, one of the Initiative’s founders.
“While the hospital will provide the HiM with a framework, leadership, and oversight of various subcommittees that will be established to address specific men’s health issues, we will need the creativity, involvement, and passion of community organizations and community leaders to ensure the effort’s ongoing success and sustainability,” said Dr. Wain.
Exemplifying this community leadership is Frank Michaud, Partner with Michaud and Accavallo, CPAs, LLC, who has made a personal contribution to help fund the HiM effort and has reached out to several schools and organizations to enable the distribution of nearly 20,000 Father’s Day card inserts throughout the Valley.
“Frank has been a dynamo since he first approached us to begin discussing ideas for improving the rate of prostate cancer screening in our community, and his energy continues to drive our efforts as we prepare to launch the HiM this week,” Charmel said.
