Take a seat with Movember
Posted on 15 November 2024
The Movember bench works like a seesaw - it won't balance with just one person on it, so two people need to sit down and chat to make it work properly: it's a physical demonstration of the saying 'a problem shared is a problem halved'.
The bench will be on Greg's Place between 10am and 4pm on Friday 22 November.
Stevie Scott, who's a student nurse in Health Sciences and a Movember Ambassador, will join the event to tell her story about losing her father to prostate cancer in 2019 when he was 60 years old:
“When I was 15, I lost my dad, Simon, to prostate cancer after a long battle and at the end of his life, he was in and out of hospitals and then a hospice. I was 7 or 8 when he was diagnosed and I don’t remember my dad ever being completely healthy - I just remember the illness. I support Movember because I am dedicated to spreading awareness and encouraging more men to see their GP early. My dad pushed aside his health concerns until it was too late to cure him because he didn’t feel like he could take time off as a contractor. It is devastating losing a loved one but through fundraising and raising awareness we can prevent men from dying young."Last year over 700 members of our community took part in Movember fundraising, many for reasons close to their heart, and raised £43,000 for the charity.
The bench is being brought to campus as part of Movember’s partnership with the University: they help to fund the BALM programme which colleagues from Hull York Medical School and The Department of Health Sciences contribute to. The programme offers early mental health support designed to improve low mood and anxiety in male frontline NHS workers. Paul Galdas is Professor of Nursing and Men's Health and leads the project:
"Men’s health impacts each and every one of us, and the installation of the ‘Problem Halved’ bench is a reminder that we need to work together to amplify our ability to make real, lasting change that doesn’t just tinker around the edges but revolutionises the rules and fundamentally improves the quality of healthcare and health education for men and all genders."
The Movember campaign is for everyone to get involved in, and everyone is invited to come along on Friday.