Keeping It Real for August 29, 2009

• By JOHNNY BROOKS
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Aug 29, 2009 - Page: 9B

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Saturdays usually are reserved for washing the car, mowing the lawn, watching the game and fishing or boating and haircuts — at least for many men. That’s what we do, with a few exceptions.

Last Saturday morning, however, I attended the 8th annual Louisiana Men’s Health Conference at LSU’s Pennington Biomedical Research Center and came away thoroughly informed, thoroughly impressed and thoroughly checked (no pun intended).

Author Jeffrey Marx spoke about the importance of faith, men having strong relationships and causes they believe in and are dedicated to, and defining greatness and success by the impact we have on others’ lives.

Some men wrongly define themselves by the amount of money they earn, the number of sexual conquests they have and their competitiveness, or lack thereof, in sports, Marx said.

I shook hands with fraternity brothers, church members, co-workers and strangers. The volunteers, many of them women, were awesome. There were yoga and tae kwon do demonstrations, and door prizes.

Everything was free. Free breakfast and lunch. Free screenings for blood glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol and the feet. Free informational sessions on obesity and diabetes, communication and healthy relationships, cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer. The latter drew me to the event.

As an African-American man, I’m in a high-risk group for developing prostate cancer. My uncle, my mother’s older brother, revealed to the family in April that he was diagnosed with the disease and chose to have surgery. A church member, my Sunday school teacher, also told the congregation during the past year about his experiences with the disease.

The message was clear: Get tested, even if you feel OK. The entire conference was free, and it was well advertised, including in this newspaper. That’s why it was surprising to see so few African-American men there.

To be fair, the lines were long at times, and several brothers got their screenings before, during and after the informational sessions and left. But at last count, Baton Rouge’s population was majority black — in the city, not the parish, according to the U.S. Census Bureau — and that wasn’t reflected at the conference.

Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center and Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, which were on site last Saturday, also have teamed up to do prostate screenings at local barbershops, including Webb’s at Government Street and Eddie Robinson Sr. Drive. Perhaps some brothers will continue to take advantage of those opportunities.

Also, as an African-American man, I’m in a high-risk group for developing hypertension, heart disease and diabetes. My wife, a registered nurse, my doctor and the doctors at the conference have reminded me that I can prevent or delay the onset of these diseases.

How? By eating more fruits and vegetables, getting adequate sleep and exercise, losing weight, consuming alcohol in moderation, if at all, and not smoking. I don’t drink or smoke, and I’m constantly working on the other stuff.

At the beginning of the half-day conference, my son and I got a reward for being one of the father-son teams. I’m starting him off young being concerned about his health.