By Jennifer Fernandes

 

Men in the northeast region are getting a severe talking to about their health, courtesy of an Australian by way of Mildura in the northwest of Australia, about six hours from Melbourne.

 

A guest speaker brought in by invitation of Dr. David Bowering, Chief Medical Officer for Northern Health, Bernard J. Denner, a rural specialist in early intervention health programs, has been advancing the state of men’s health for over 16 years traveling worldwide to preach the gospel on the importance of regular health checks.

 

The trip is his third to the region since 2002 and on this swing through, Denner visited Prince George where he presented on health & wellness to First Nations, Fort Nelson and Fort St. John with the goal of bringing awareness to the problem plaguing men’s health.

 

“Men don’t know how to go to the doctor,” Denner said bluntly. “The men we are trying to get to go to the doctor don’t have anything wrong with them but should go by age 40 and if they have no family history of medical problems then they should go by age 50.”

 

“We’re trying to improve the pathways for men to see that you don’t have to be ill to see a doctor and that by being proactive and getting things like sugar levels or cholesterol or their prostate checked so lifestyle adjustments can be made before the situation gets drastic.”

 

A men’s health night was held Feb. 21 at On the Rocks in Fort St. John where men could avail of free health checks.

 

“The men’s health nights are intended to be a wake-up call,” he said, “I try to scare the living daylights out of them listing the top 10 reasons why men die―all in order to get them to get a health check at the end of the night.”

 

One key area affecting men’s health that Denner said men take for granted is their intimate relationships.

 

“At these nights, we’ve asked men to raise their hand if they kissed their wife good-bye when they went off to work that morning,” Denner said, “You would be surprised at the number of men who hadn’t―especially because you never know what’s going to happen to you that day.”

 

With the divorce rate at 46 per cent, Denner noted that men have to be less complacent and ‘check back in’ to their relationships adding that the biggest homework men should take away from the health nights is to ask, “How are we instead of asking their partner how are they?”

 

“A funny story about when I addressed workers in the mining industry is that I asked the men to call their wives at home to say good-night during their shift break,” Denner said. “But it kind of backfired as I had men calling wives for the first time in years…the wives got suspicious and demanded to know if the husbands were checking up on them!”