Mudgee High School students have had lessons in men’s and women’s health and community, with two major campaigns in recent months.
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People might have been wondering why MHS students were all wearing hawaiian shirts for Tropical Tuesday, a PDHPE class put together a campaign in conjunction with Movember to raise awareness that lot of people suffer in silence and it’s all about talking about those health issues that aren’t usually spoken about.
They wanted to encourage those conversations and try and break the silence so Mudgee High School went tropical.
Throughout November there were a number of ‘Mo Bros’ who jumped on board and this culminated in the final assembly on Tuesday; with a parade; guest speaker Andy Gay who spoke about his personal experiences; a quiz about mental health; barbecue; and various fundraising activities. A total of $666.55 was raised which will go to the Movember Foundation.
Miss Messner’s class embraced the task of spreading the message – that men experience worse longer-term health than women and die on average six years earlier.
Prostate cancer rates will double in the next 15 years, testicular cancer rates have already doubled in the last 50. Three quarters of suicides are men, with poor mental health leading to half a million men taking their own life every year - that’s one every minute – fathers, partners, brothers and friends.
- For help; Lifeline 13 11 14; Mensline Australia 1300 78 99 78; Beyondblue 1300 22 46 36; Kids’ Helpline 1800 55 1800.
READ ALSO: Men's health in spotlight
Pink Up Day
In October the community of Mudgee supported the McGrath Foundation in respect of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And MHS held a 'Pink Up' Day as part of their wider community events raising funds to help provide breast care nurses – such as Diane Thomas, Mudgee’s local McGrath Foundation nurse - to towns and to raise awareness in the community about breast cancer.
One of the PD17 – Accessing Health classes this year organised events such as a mufti day, canteen specials with the help of Jacqui Wakely and Mel Doble and made interactive displays during lunch time where students learnt about the McGrath Foundation and breast cancer.
Also, students and staff played a game of cricket using the pink stumps kit kindly donated by the McGrath Foundation. They thanked Hugh Bateman for coming to speak with the students and donating the major prize for the raffle, the final tally for the day was $1100
Addressing the elephant in the room
On Monday 150 Year 9 students had the opportunity to participate in the Batyr program, which aims to bring the community together and talk about the stigma surrounding mental health, support the community to engage in positive conversations and to promote different health services in the region.
Batyr have teamed up with the NSW Waratahs for the ‘Get Talkin’ Tour’, to provide the tools and skills to look out for the wellbeing participants and their mates along with a game of touch footy Waratahs.
The organisation is named after batyr (‘hero’), The Talking Elephant From Kazakhstan, and their mission is to “give a voice to the elephant in the room – mental health”.