• Tools:
• Save |
• Print |
• E-mail |
• Most Popular |

Getting care to reluctant patients

By Ruth Underwood
CNN

Adjust font size:

(CNN) -- Lots of people make excuses to avoid going to the doctor, but men are real pros, says Dr. Jean Bonhomme, president and co-founder of the National Black Men's Health Network.

Research shows that compared with women, men are less likely to see a doctor and less likely to have a personal physician, he said.

Men also are likely to delay seeking treatment, even if they're in pain, Bonhomme said.

Now, the Men's Health Network, which counts Bonhomme as a director, is working to make health care more accessible to those reluctant patients.

The network, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., is taking checkups to men instead of waiting for them to head to a doctor's office. (Watch more on the importance of regular health screenings for men. )

"We're trying to go get guys where they work, live, play and pray," said Scott Williams, the group's director of professional relations and public policy.

The organization's outreach includes visits to companies such as John Deere, Harley Davidson and Daimler Chrysler that Williams said have mostly male employees.

"We'll go and bring our health educators, do cholesterol screenings, do prostate screenings, and then follow it up with ... some of our other educational materials," Williams said.

The network also is targeting retail stores and churches with health education programs and screenings.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported African-American and Hispanic men are even less likely than whites to see a physician.

Bonhomme thinks a personal approach works, particularly among minorities.

"When people see somebody like themselves being affected by the problem and talking about it openly, it makes it OK for them to talk about it. So one of the issues about reaching minorities is [to] make it a peer-to-peer approach," he said.

Why is it that some men need to be persuaded to think about their health?

Bonhomme points to a disconnect between men and the health care system, including lack of information about men's health issues, men's socialization and lack of identification with the system.

"Men die more from cancer than women do, ... but a lot of men think that cancer is primarily a woman's disease because they hear all the time about breast cancer," Bonhomme said.

He also believes that from childhood men are taught to ignore their bodies.

"When a boy is 8 years old and he skins his knee, what do they tell him? They say, 'Brave boys don't cry.' Or when he's 15 and he's playing high school football and he gets hurt, they tell him, 'Take one for the team.' " Bonhomme said.

"So when he's 50 and having chest pains, he'll say, 'Oh, that's just indigestion,' when it may be a heart attack."

So if men are going to ignore those aches and pains that may be signs of something bigger, how can the health care system reach them?

Bonhomme said it's all in the communication.

"When health care is framed as a way of helping a man to perform his best, and I'm not just talking sexually ... when health care is framed as a way to help a man be all that he can be, then it becomes more appealing to men."

Prison for collar-bomb robber; questions linger A Pennsylvania man has been sentenced to 45 years in prison in a deadly bank robbery plot -- described by the judge in the case as "incredibly bizarre" -- i ...

---

• Man sentenced in collar-bomb plot
• Report: Mumbai attackers had help
• Commentary: Ask help, get ticket
• Cruise ship stranded
• Car dealers get creative

• Authorities: Mumbai attackers had help
• Nanny describes saving child in Mumbai attack
• Prosecutor: Bat, knife used on shackled teen
• Brown: Mom-to-be needed help, not ticket
• Missing ballots stall Minnesota Senate recount

• Talkin' 'Icky Thump' blues (1:40)
• 'Why you treat yourself bad?' (3:15)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)
• Unseemly rap lyrics targeted (3:29)
• Now In The News