ROCK HILL, S.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — June is Men’s Health Month, and the men of the Rock Hill Kappa Alpha Psi Alumni chapter and North Central Family Medicine will host an event aimed at raising awareness about health issues among African American men Saturday, June 10, at 10 a.m.
The event will provide basic health testing, information about health concerns and an interactive discussion about health concerns among African American men in Rock Hill.
It will be held at the Ernest G. Brown Health Center, 140 Saluda St.
“What we want to do is talk about the disparities in men’s health and the fact that men, particularly African-American or Black men, don’t get preventive primary care as we think they should, particularly under 40 years old,” said CEO of North Central Family Medicine Dr. Ernest Brown. “And even those a little over 40 tend to only seek medical help when they really feel sick. They don’t really concentrate on prevention or the fact that the diseases like heart disease and diabetes, hypertension, are basically all silent killers.”
He says when you start experiencing symptoms, sometimes it’s too late.
“Cancer, for example, is one of those things you don’t know you’ve got until you start feeling pain or some other abnormality occurs,” Brown said. “So if we can get young men to get an annual physical or to just do some things and change some of their habits, some of their routine things they do with the way to eat, whether they exercise or whether they eliminate some of the risky behaviors that they have, so that could prolong life and take care of their families. And we just try to encourage our men to seek preventive care like women usually do.”
The group will have interactive discussions about the health concerns of Black men.
Matthew Edwards, registered nutritionist and dietician at Encompass Health Rehabilitation Hospital, will lead a discussion on diet concerns, Black men’s health and healthy eating habits. The participants will be given a glucose test, blood pressure test along with height and weight readings.
The group will also discuss previous topics on high blood pressure, diabetes, prostate cancer and kidney disease and will be able to compare progress from the last meeting in March.