Dads should take the lead

Fathers should always take the lead in having a healthy lifestyle, especially in keeping themselves active and fit, so they could enjoy spending more time with their love ones.

Public Health Services director Margarita Torres-Aldan and Gov. Ralph DLG Torres pointed out this out in yesterday’s proclamation signing at the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. conference room that designated June 17 to 23 as CNMI Men’s Health Week.

Acting Saipan mayor Luis John Castro and Department of Fires and Emergency Services personnel Robert Mojica alternately read the proclamation.

Aldan said the community must help each other lead healthier lifestyles. “Everything is about lifestyle behavior and lifestyle change. We encourage each other to follow the right way.”

She added that federal health officials also push them to have programs that promote a healthy lifestyle for men. “Even in our [application for] grants, they are also telling us to focus on men. Have fathers involved whether it is in family planning or others.”

“I always tell my boys that there’s peer pressure but there’s also positive peer pressure and not always the negative one that we hear all the time. Let’s all work together to keep and make [us] healthy,” she said.

Torres admits that he is guilty of not taking care of his health but encouraged all men in the community to change their lifestyle and become more active.

“I’m having a hard time distinguishing what’s…good food but healthy. All of us [men], inside this room, how many of us had gone to get tested for your health; a test for heart disease, cancer or diabetes in the last six months? Be honest,” he said.

Only four men who were present raised their hands.

“We are all guilty in terms of taking care of our health, so it is not just me,” Torres said. “[But] at the end of the day, it is our family that will be hurt.”

The CNMI Men’s Health Week aims to educate and have men participate in health screenings.

It will also promote awareness on a range of health issues that affect men like cancer (prostrate, testicular, and colon), diabetes, and heart disease. Organizers of the event are encouraging all men, especially dads, to wear blue on June 17, Sunday, which is Father’s Day, while a special segment will be hosted at KKMP’s radio talk show at 7:30am on Monday, June 17.

A roadside waving will be held on Monday from 4pm to 5:30pm while a health screening from 9am to 11:30am at the Governor’s Office is scheduled on Tuesday. A 5-kilometer walk will be held on June 20 at Minachom Atdao starting at 5pm while another one will be done on Rota on Friday, June 22.
Another health screening outreach is scheduled on Thursday, June 21, from 9am to 11:30am at the Department of Public Works parking lot next to the First Hawaiian Bank. There will also be a health screening at the Rota Mayor’s Office from 9am to 11:30am on Friday.