June is Men’s Health Awareness Month

Volunteers in Medicine Appeals to Men: Visit a Doctor Today

Life expectancy for all Americans dipped during the pandemic, but for men, it had already been on the decline. Male life expectancy dropped in the years spanning from 2016 to 2018, increasing only slightly in 2019. According to the most recent CDC numbers, men’s life expectancy is now more than two years less than the life expectancy of the country as a whole. 

Men’s Health Awareness Month, which takes place in June, is an opportunity to shine a light on the fact that men struggle to maintain good health. For example, CDC data shows that 51.9% of men have high blood pressure, 40.5% are obese, 14.1% are active smokers, and 3.1% have undiagnosed diabetes. These four conditions contribute to heart disease, the number one cause of death in the United States. In 2020, 1,054 men died from heart disease in Duval County, compared to 827 women.

Men in general are more reluctant to go to the doctor. A survey conducted in 2016 by The Harris Poll, in partnership with the American Association of Family Physicians, found that almost 30% of men "wait as long as possible" to seek medical attention when they are feeling sick or in pain. Many of these men eventually receive their care in a hospital. By then, their condition has progressed and often requires a hospitalization. 

For hospitalizations not related to pregnancy, adult men were hospitalized 2,000 more times than adult women in Duval County in 2019.

“This is unsustainable,” says Volunteers in Medicine CEO Jennifer Ryan. “Working men in our community, many of whom are supporting a family, shouldn’t have their lives upended by preventable illnesses.”

Volunteers in Medicine provides free, preventative healthcare to the working uninsured as well as free non-narcotic prescription medications and medical supplies. While only 32% of their patients are men, Ryan knows that many more simply aren’t prioritizing a visit to the doctor. This is a source of frustration, knowing that healthcare is readily available to most of them.

“They are our brothers, our fathers, our husbands, our grandparents. The community cannot afford to lose any one of them.”

Special thank you to WJCT for featuring men’s health on their Father’s Day segment. Listen here.