November is Men’s Health Awareness Month

By Julio Nieves, Community Outreach Specialist

November is Men’s Health Awareness Month, also known as Movember. Movember started in Australia in 2003 when a group of men agreed to grow their mustaches to spark conversations about men's health; today, it is a worldwide movement.

According to the CDC, key men's health issues include heart disease, various cancers (such as prostate, lung, and skin cancer), strokes, accidental or unintentional injuries, diabetes, obesity, mental health struggles, and suicide.

This awareness is vital and includes the males we support in our system. Having an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD) does not stop someone from being a male or from participating in conversations about his health, especially during this month.

We have the technology today to make it easier to communicate, assist our population, and make health conversations part of a person-centered support model. We can utilize smart assistive technology, communication devices, and apps to facilitate this. Having conversations about men's health can make it easier and more comfortable for the individuals we support. And if an individual would like to grow a mustache for the month, absolutely—why not? 

As our fellow Philadelphian Benjamin Franklin famously said,“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

Resources:

CDC- Men’s Health

PCHC – Training on Men’s Health