Women Are The Ministers of Health – Their Version

Women are truly the ministers of health, the Chief Medial Officers, the education heads, the health attachès of the household. It falls to us to manage urgent care situations, ensure prevention and wellness check ups takes place and to continuously poll the family making sure everyone is doing ok. When it comes to our children it’s easy —we put them in the car or take the train and make our way to the appropriate facility. With our sisters and mothers, its still pretty easy, we simply accompany them, maybe even join them for a checkup ourselves, make it an outing of sorts. But when it comes to our husbands, boyfriends and brothers, that’s, as they say, a whole other story! I believe there are two reasons for this. 1) Men doubt they’ll ever get sick—‘til they do and 2) all men have MD degrees. A degree we women are very familiar with—the Medical Denial degree. This degree allows them to ignore almost every symptom, every discomfort, and every indication that something might not be quite right or, in fact, is very wrong. Women can and do sometimes get upset even angry at these men for their behavior. We say, “why can’t they take care of themselves? They’re adults! We do!” Then we remember, “Oh gosh, they’re men.” Now, this is certainly not to put a brother down. But guys, come on, you know how you are, blood, broken bones, bumps and bruises are badges of honor for you. The weekend warrior in you gets on the court or the field or soccer pitch giving it all you’ve got.

And for the most part, you look good out there, too. You groan thru the aches and pains, limp into the office, meeting or classroom, proudly reminiscing to all who’ll listen that last tackle or attempted dunk that produced the injury. Oh, but wake up a few mornings with an abdominal ache you can’t attribute to a spectacular catch or see blood in your stools or get a little short of breath just climbing a flight of stairs and do you boast about that? Do you even mention it? That’s where we come in, the medical detective – ever vigilant – looking for signs of anything that may be out of order. We’re not trying to nag and pester you, we are trying to care for you and we’d like you to take care of yourselves as well. Let me share a secret with you: it’s not a sign of weakness to be concerned about your health and to let us know if you think (or know) there might be a problem.

It’s funny, whenever you hear a knock in your car engine or notice it’s a bit sluggish when you hit the gas, you can’t get it to the mechanic fast enough. How many times have you said, “Ignore a little problem and it will become a big problem”? Don’t you schedule a preventive maintenance appointment or oil change every 3500 miles? That 3-4 times per year! News Alert: that goes for your body as well. Is your car more important than your body?  So ladies and gentlemen, our dear loved ones, listen to Andrea Collier. Follow her advice. On the issue of colon cancer, for example, 30% of African American men get their diagnosis at a late stage. Go in for a check up; your preventive maintenance needs to occur only once every 10 years and you may never get colon cancer; never have to deal with the fear of what might happen, never have to deal with pain and discomfort you won’t brag about from treating something you didn’t need to have in the first place. Not a bad deal for a once every ten year maintenance schedule. Just ask your minister of health.

Linda Blount
National Vice President, Health Disparities
The American Cancer Society