According to MedlinePlus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, men need to take a greater interest in their health. It states that men are more likely than women to smoke, drink, make unhealthy choices, make risky choices, and postpone medical care. June is Men’s Health Month and Men’s Health Week is June 13–19, 2016. Make an extra effort to connect with men in your community and take advantage of this opportunity to help them improve their health.
- Start by visiting the website for the observance at www.menshealthmonth.org. Here you’ll find a ton of logos, posters, flyers and PSAs to use during your efforts this month.
- Hire a barber or hairdresser for three to four hours and treat your favorite senior community referral sources to free haircuts or shaves for their male residents.
- Contact your local newspaper or television news station and invite them to shadow a longtime male provider in your agency as he cares for a male client. Be sure to get advance clearance from the client and have him sign a form to consent to the coverage.
- Create a checklist of the health screenings men need as they get older in order to stay healthy. Distribute it at the senior centers and assisted living facilities in your area. Find a list of these screenings and the reasons for them at the website of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
- Remember that men’s health doesn’t just affect men. It affects the women in their lives, too. And these women often have great influence on the decisions and actions of their husbands, fathers, brothers and sons. Encourage the women your agency encounters to help the men in their lives adopt healthier habits. Find tips to help involve women in your efforts at the website of the Men’s Health Network.
- Host a bake sale and donate the proceeds to a local clinic’s indigent fund with an earmark that it help pay for the care of men in your community.