SINT MAARTEN LIONS CLUB MEN SHOW UP! For “MEN’S HEALTH MATTERS. MAN UP! CHECK UP!”

SINT MAARTEN (SUCKER GARDEN) - June 19^th was a full house, when men showed up early and enthusiastic before the doors were even opened for the Prostate Cancer Awareness Men’s Health Matters information session which was held at the Sint Maarten Lions Club Civic Center in Sucker Garden. Couples, elderly men, single men, and women made up the audience of a highly anticipated information session. The venue, accommodated 60 persons on a first come, first serve basis, and filled up rather quickly.

The Men’s Health Matters – Man Up, Check Up Information session was held on Saturday, June 19, 2021, from 7pm – 9pm at the Lions Civic Center in Suckergarden.
Featured Guest Speakers were Dr. Rojas, a Urologist at the St. Maarten Medical Center
Mr. Michael Ferrier a prostate cancer survivor, Mr. Raymond Benjamin a prostate cancer warrior, Mr. Julian Rollocks former teacher at MPC and men’s health advocate and surprised testimonial from Lion’s member and local businessman Lion Michael van Grieken who is still in the recovering process.

June is observed as National Men’s Health Month! In recognition of this, the Sint Maarten Lions Club in collaboration with the Positive and Elektralyets Foundations organized an information session entitled “Men’s Health Matters Man Up, Check Up! “with a focus on prostate cancer awareness. This event was aimed at raising awareness of avoidable health challenges and encouraged early detection and treatment of ailment amongst men in our community with special attention to prostate cancer.

There was a question-and-answer segment to give the attendees a chance to ask pertinent questions to the guest speakers. Many questions were asked by the audience and from online viewers as well via YouTube. The evening ended with refreshments, snacks educational material and free giveaways. The Sint Maarten Lions Club,Positive and Elektralyets Foundations were indeed very intrigued and highly impressed by the turnout and the engagement of discussions that ensued amongst men and women once the information session was over, with the guest speakers and Dr. Rojas. It was a start of breaking the taboo of Prostate cancer on the island they said.

The Men’s Health Matters – Man Up, Check Up information session was also streamed life via YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5FAMf0DyxQ, the Sint Maarten Lions Club Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/stmaartenlionsclub,Positive Foundation https://www.facebook.com/thepositivefoundationand the Elektralyets Foundation Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/elektra.voltage

Due to the COVID 19 Pandemic, many community awareness programs conducted by organizations like the Sint Maarten Lions Club, Positive and Elektralyets Foundations have been impacted negatively.  The Sint Maarten Lions Club’s was not able to host its annual Lion Rudy Hoeve Health and Wellness Fair, held every March, for the past 2 years. The Positive and Elektralyets Foundations have opted to placed banners and posters around St. Maarten of PINK and BLUE faces instead of hosting its usual month-long calendar of events in September and October. The Pink and Blue Faces are women and men in our community that have volunteered to be part of the ongoing campaign to inspire, stimulate and strengthen the call to action to help save lives in St. Maarten.

The Sint Maarten Lions Club, the Positive and Elektralyets Foundations are very happy to have collaborated to host the Men’s Health Matters – Man Up, Check Up event on June 19,2021. Due to the grand success of the event and the much-needed awareness and education of such an important topic like Prostate Cancer, future annual collaborations are possible.

Many of us may have overlooked getting our annual physical because of the challenges associated with the pandemic, while some of us may have questioned why you should see your doctor for an annual physical exam, if you are feeling generally healthy. One good reason is checking in with your primary care physician can confirm that you have no underlying health risks that need attention. Or an exam may lead to an early-stage diagnosis of some kind, which means you could receive treatment sooner with better outcomes.

The Foundations urge all men to take charge of their health. Get to know the risks involved and the importance of getting an annual prostate exam. It is a call to action to save lives. The foundations encourage the men in our community to bring another male friend, colleague or loved one to this event and indeed the men and women heeded to the call.

The foundations are hoping through education, support, and opportunities where men can have a conversation with men who understand the importance of getting checked. A call to action by prostate cancer survivors, warriors, and health care providers is aimed at breaking the taboo of prostate cancer and save lives in our community.

The President of the Sint Maarten’s Lions Club Mr. Alphons Gumbs gave the vote of thanks for a well-coordinated and informative event and thanked all the guest speakers that were brave enough to share their testimonials and life experiences of dealing with Prostate Cancer and other men’s health issues. He also showed high appreciation for the wonderful collaboration with the Positive and the Elektralyets Foundations with the Sint Maarten Lions Club.

The Positive and the Elektralyets foundations together with the Sint Maarten Lions Club would like to thank the Business community for their continued support for sponsoring such an event which was made possible by Benu Pharmacy, Gillette, Prime, Oldspice, Fiji Water,Vitamalt, ILTT and all media outlets.