Stars, HealthTronics Team Up this Saturday
Nov 23, 2016
HealthTronics, Texas Stars Team Up to Change the Face of Men’s Health
AUSTIN, Texas – Things are about to get hairy. Mobile medical equipment provider HealthTronics, Inc. and the Texas Stars organization will team up throughout November in support of Movember, a campaign that encourages men to grow facial hair to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues.
According to the Movember Foundation, men are dying too young. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men, and by 2030 there will be 1.7 million men living with prostate cancer. One in 20 men who get testicular cancer die. And one in four men will experience a mental health problem at some point in their lives. Each year, 510,000 men around the world die from suicide. This is a rate of one every minute.
These numbers are exacerbated by many men’s reluctance to talk about their health. A 2016 Cleveland Clinic study found that 53 percent of men do not talk about their health and 40 percent do not get annual check-ups.
So Russell Newman, President of Austin-based HealthTronics, and Brien Rea, the Texas Stars’ director of broadcast and media relations, are ditching the razor in an effort to reverse these trends.
“Men would rather talk about news, sports or work than their health, but in order to stop the rise of prostate and testicular cancer as well as mental health problems, these are necessary conversations,” said Newman.
HealthTronics is raising awareness at a HealthTronics employee night with the Texas Stars on November 26 and is offering prizes to employees for the most creative facial hair and to those participating in the Movember physical fitness program, the Move challenge.
HealthTronics also has started a fundraising effort to increase awareness and funds for Movember, and is a proud sponsor of ZERO: The End of Prostate Cancer, a run and walk that will be held on November 12 at Camp Mabry.
Rea said, “These health problems affect so many men. If someone is not personally affected, he is bound to know a friend or relative who is impacted. Movember brings these issues to light in a fun way.”
The Texas Stars, the American Hockey League Cedar Park-based affiliate of the NHL’s Dallas Stars, will be spreading the word about Movember to fans all throughout the month of November.
Newman said, “A lot of men will not set foot in a doctor’s office, so HealthTronics’ partnership with the Texas Stars brings the conversation to them in an accessible, comfortable sports environment.”