• Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly gets his blood pressure checked by ANU medical student Caitlin Coombes at the Bega Show.
THE Men’s Health Check Pitstop raced into the Bega Show, on a mission to make men throughout the shire start thinking about their health and wellbeing.
The Pitstop had both Member for Eden-Monaro Mike Kelly and Bega Valley Shire Mayor Bill Taylor in for “rego checks” as they got behind this important men’s health initiative.
“The idea of the Pitstop is to not only get men to think about their health, but to start conversations about health topics they normally wouldn’t talk about,” Nina Holland from Southern NSW Medicare Local said.
Ms Holland said Pitstop, an initiative funded by the Federal Department of Health and Ageing through Bega Valley Shire Council’s Live Life program, aims to bring some serious health topics to men’s attention in a light-hearted manner.
“It’s called a Pitstop because we are saying to men that you give your car regular maintenance, why don’t you do that for yourself?” Ms Holland said.
After registering, there were seven different stations for men to visit: chassis (weight and waist measurement), extractor (bowel screening information), exhaust (quit smoking), oil (blood pressure) spark plugs (prostate health information), fuel additives (alcohol-related health issues) and shock absorbers (mental health check).
Along the way, participants had their blood pressure taken and spoke to health professionals in bright orange “pit crew” overalls at each station about wellbeing and lifestyle changes they could make to improve their health.
“All the stations are staffed by Allied health professionals, nurses, dieticians, counsellors, physios, plus we have medical students from ANU here taking blood pressure and representatives from the Men’s Shed as well,” Ms Holland said.
After their health “tune up”, participants were either given a blue rego sticker if they were “road worthy” or referred to their doctor for a full check-up.
Both Mr Kelly and Mr Taylor were found to be road-worthy and left the Pitstop with a blue rego sticker.
Two more Pitstops are planned in the Bega Valley for later in the year.