Combing through hairy facts
November 7, 2014
Support of No Shave November has begun to grow on campus and WSU’s Health and Wellness Services (HWS) is participating by educating community members in men’s health.
HWS’s Movember campaign supports the same values as the Movember Foundation.
According to Movember’s official website, the organization spans across twenty-one different countries and seeks to impact the face of men’s health. Their mission is to raise factual awareness of serious men’s health conditions while providing financial support for both prostate and testicular cancer care.
Movember supports No Shave November, but adds its own twist to the activity. Movember asks that men maintain well groomed mustaches, instead. All hair beneath the lip must be gone.
Women are encouraged to participate too by drawing fake mustaches on their faces or donating to the foundation. The website labels these participants as Mo Sistas.
HWS supports this event by annually educating young men and women in the Pullman community through posters and community based activities.
On Nov. 1, University Recreation and Events Center hosted their Movember kick off in conjunction with HWS. Activities included rock climbing and yoga, followed by preventive health talks.
Similar events will be hosted throughout the month. Their support will extend beyond the Movember foundation and help local institutions as well.
“Some of the events we host will support the Jaimeson Jones scholarship,” said assistant director of competitive sports & youth programs Matt Shaw.
Jaimeson Jones was a political science major at WSU who participated on the rowing team before he died in 2010 of testicular cancer.
Shortly after his death, his family created a scholarship in his honor for students who have or had siblings with cancer, according to the scholarship’s official website jaimesonjones.org.
Erin Carroll, program marketing coordinator for HWS, said that testicular cancer is the most common cancer among college aged males.
She invites people to start conversations about men’s health and said that the mustaches they put up around campus encourage it.
Carroll hopes that through Movember men will seek the services made available through HWS, become educated about their health history, and learn what a testicular screening looks like.
Brad Stewart, assistant director for programming for HWS, said that preventive self-care for men are lower in numbers than women.
“It starts a routine for self-care,” Stewart said
The Movember campaign brings awareness to prevention.
“We know that men are less likely to get screening than women,” Carroll said.
Free fitness classes at UREC and multiple awareness presentations will be made available through the rest of November.
A full list of activities is provided at urec.wsu.edu.