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Men’s Health Advisor, Q. Mehzar you were involved on May 20th with rest of the HOM team in our first ever Conference – a really big day! Many of the delegates are just setting up their own men’s health teams and wanted to learn from our experience in the Bradford District. Talking to the delegates afterwards, I got a lot of positive feedback. How did you find the day? A. It was a real experience! A lot of professionals and nurses attended. Your heart starts to go at 75 miles an hour talking about your work in such a large space like the Banqueting Suite in Bradford’s City Hall – the number of people that turned up was quite amazing. Q. During your presentation you touched on your work with the Sangat Association at Keighley. Can you expand on this and give an insight into what an average week for you involves? A. My base for operations is the Community Health team at Steeton in Airedale PCT. My work with HOM also takes me to other parts of the Bradford District. I have worked in the Barbershop in Bradford; I’ve also helped Steve Newbold with the work that have taken place in Bradford Council’s ’Parks & Landscapes Department’ - and of course I have an ongoing commitment to Sangat. Q. How did you get involved at Sangat? A. The Sangat Association serves the heart of Keighley’s Asian Community – I feel I’ve had a lot of success there. From small beginnings I now see 28-34 men for 2hr sessions – they help set the agenda for me and I create a 6 week program. The first week typically covers healthy eating, we then move onto blood pressure, cancer and prostate, the latter particularly sensitive issues for South Asian men. The preferred method of communication is 1-1 rather than in a group, elderly men particularly benefit from this approach. For instance before a recent session many didn’t know what the prostate was or where it is in the body. At the moment were involved with ‘Walking for Health’ Q. Do you get a good turn out? A. It varies, perhaps 30 is typical but it can be as many as 60 if it follows soon after lunch at the centre. We have a particularly beautiful park around 1 mile from the Centre which encourages the Elderly to participate. Q.You also work with the Bangladeshi Group? A. Yes. I suppose in terms of health promotion they are another hard to reach group. Similar to Sangat the key to getting involved was getting the backing of community leaders, particularly the Imam of the local mosque. At first we struggled with numbers – As low as 2/3 men attending Health ‘drop-ins’. To remedy this I discussed my aims with the Imam, clarifying how we would approach such issues as sexual health plus heart disease and diet. He then mentioned us specifically in his sermon, and attendance increased steadily. Numbers have reached the point where sometimes we have to turn people away – the findings are successful too, this week we found that 7 people who were overweight (BMI over 25). Q. Thanks Mehzar A. I would think Hull Prison! We were invited last year to participate in a health event. We had a personal safety talk from the prison staff before going in - no pin badges allowed! – In actual fact we were really appreciated by the inmates who were open to us. There were a lot of young people there too as it was very much a family day. As a way of breaking the ice we used remote control cars with distorted vision glasses that simulate the effects of drunk driving when worn. Something to grab the attention of your audience is really useful. We gave out a lot of information that day, particularly on testicular cancer. I think we saw up to 300 prisoners seen by a 4 man strong HOM team, quite an achievement and I found it rewarding. Mehzar was interviewed by C. Andrew | back |
 
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