By Jesse Graham
YARRA Ranges Council’s CEO and workers have teamed up to raise awareness for men’s health issues and thousands of dollars in fund-raising by growing a mo for Movember.
Six council employees, including CEO Glenn Patterson, each attempted to grow a moustache between 31 October and 30 November for Movember – an annual fund-raiser and awareness raising event for men’s health issues, such as testicular and prostate cancer and mental health.
One of the team members, Rohan Brown, said 2016 was the fifth year that council employees had taken part in Movember, with a team being formed over the last two years.
“There’s a couple of people who have been doing it individually in the past, and we decided we’d get together as a group,” Mr Brown said.
Mr Patterson said the group was formed after a group of staff created the Live Well, Work Well group in council, as part of a “health and well-being push”.
“What I find great is that, actually, the women and everybody in the organisation gets behind it as well and, equally, when we raise awareness of women’s health issues … the guys support that, too,” he said.
“There’s a very collegiate approach to these kinds of issues.”
Though Mr Patterson said he was “counting down the days” until he could shave off his moustache, he said the effort had been well supported, with $5748 raised as of Tuesday, 29 November.
“For obvious reasons, it’s a real conversation starter,” he said.
“It’s a nice and fun way of raising awareness of men’s health issues.
“It’s getting men to feel more comfortable with actually just speaking up if they’ve got those sort of challenges, or having regular health checks – for things like testicular and prostate (cancer) and other illnesses, it’s just getting in early and doing the preventative thing by a better lifestyle and having regular health checks on a regular basis, rather than, as a lot of men do, just letting it drift and ignoring those things.”
Early in November, the Mail reported that a group had been formed in Healesville for Movember, named the Horseshoe Crew.
Liberty Family Church Pastor, Joel Hawting, is one of the nine group members, who grew horseshoe-style moustaches, similar to the one sported by Dennis Lillee.
As of Tuesday, 29 November, the team had raised $3757.
He said that he hoped the event would encourage men to keep track of their health, both physical and mental.
“I think men’s health is an area that as blokes, we’re not always good at looking after ourselves in a lot of ways,” Mr Hawting said.
“Too often, it’s that old-school way of thinking, that we’ve got to be tough, we’ve got to do it all alone and we pave our own paths, when I think men are obviously better when we’re together and working together.”
To donate, or for more information about Movember, visit au.movember.com.
