Movember November

This November we have been focusing on the importance of men’s health. It’s not uncommon for the men we love to put their health, physical and mental, on the bottom of their to-do lists.

Doctor’s appointments only happen for broken bones and blood loss! Because of this, a lot of health issues are ignored or undiagnosed.

This is why we decided to join the Movember Movement, an organization that brings awareness to men’s health every November by encouraging fellas to “gro their mo” and raise money towards common health issues like, prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and mental health and suicide awareness.

Our Participants and Their Progress

Who are these gentlemen?

Jason Conlin – Lawyer from Lakeland Law Group and Hearts for Healthcare Director

Rob Brassard – Branch Manager at CIBC and Hearts for Healthcare Director

Kristian Miller-Nielsen – Safety at Morgan Construction & Environmental Ltd and brother and spouse of two of our local Cold Lake Community Health Services nurses.

Gordon Lee – Section Commander at CAF Transition Centre, 4 Wing Cold Lake and partner to Hearts for Healthcare Director and 22 CF Health Services Nurse Practitioner, Jennifer Cory.

Watch Their “Mo’s” Grow!

Community Support

Joining Movember November has been a real eye-opener to how many individuals, teams, organizations, and businesses join the movement.

It’s incredible to see so much support towards such a worthy cause. We wanted to not only showcase fancy ‘staches but also some of the ways those around us contribute to the health and wellbeing of the men in our community.

Our friendly neighborhood Doctor, Dr. Joe Stander, took the time to share his top tips on men’s health:

✔️SPF protection against weather elements in both summer and winter
✔️Finding the balance between caloric intake, exercise, and supplements
✔️Safety while operating recreational vehicles: no alcohol, use appropriate clothing and helmets
✔️New Year is around the corner for giving up bad habits
✔️General health care is in each individual’s hands, medication alone does not fix everything
✔️Insist on cancer screening, at least every 18 months after age 50

Welcoming Cold Lake’s Men’s Shed

Have you checked out our last blog post? It’s an exciting one! We introduced the Cold Lake Chapter Men’s Shed.

Men’s sheds are local, non-profit organizations that provide men a place to share and teach their craftwork and find social interaction. CHECK IT OUT.

Bonnyville Nouvelle: Growing a “mo” for a “bro” article

Local media outlet, The Bonnyville Nouvelle, wrote a fantastic article about Movember featuring Hearts for Healthcare Director and Movember teammate, Rob Brassard. Rob told his story on why the Movember cause is so close to his heart.

“My father passed away from prostate cancer, so it’s one of those things that’s near to my heart. To make sure that people go regularly to their doctors to get regular check-ups. My dad was one of those guys that was always fit and healthy, and he never needed to go to the doctor for anything. Unfortunately, when it came back, it didn’t work out so well for him,”

Read the rest of the article on bonnyvillenouvelle.ca.

Movember Sucess

The Movember Canada’s website lets participants create their own profile and accept donations, individually or as a team. Throughout the month we shared the link to our Hearts for Healthcare team page that we created to document the progress

Hearts for Healthcare’s Movember team was able to raise over $600 in support of men’s health thanks to the support of our community. On top of that, our team member, Rob Brassard’s, personal Movember profile raised $500! INCREDIBLE!

Operating since 2003, Movember Canada has had over 30 million moustache participants and funded over 1,250 men’s health-related projects around the world. Through donations raised by the Movember participants and teams, they are changing the way men’s health is perceived globally. Check out their website for more information and resources.

For local men’s health resources, take a look at the resources section on our website. Bottom line, if you need help, talk to someone, ANYONE!

Grande Finale

As November began to wrap up we decided to end all the Movember fun with a BANG! We approached local barber and fellow Movember participant, Crew Haus Barber & Stylist, to hook our handsome participants up and shave off those crumb catchers. Much to the relief of their significant others, we are sure! 😂

Thank you to Crew Haus for cleaning these gents up and for supporting men’s health over the years. The Crew Haus Movember Team was able to raise nearly $200 and hosted a Movember raffle with prizes for two much needed post-Movember shaves. Hearts for Healthcare’s very own Rob Brassard was a lucky winner! Congrats, Rob. Enjoy your shave in the swanky Crew Haus shave room. 😊

You can catch all the fun of our finale in our Facebook live post on our Hearts for Healthcare Facebook page.