The Prostate Cancer Centre’s rural Man-Van, which will test men for Prostate Cancer was unveiled last week in High River.
Crop Production Services’ Anthony Overwater tells Rural Roots Canada the van and Combines for Cure initiative will help save lives.
“We really had a desire to bring farmers to the business of taking care of their health. Prostate Cancer is an issue that has affected our family. So it’s personal. When you start to lose friends, lose customers and see how that devastates families, especially farm families. You say to yourself that you have to do something about it,” says Overwater.
Monsanto’s Greg Hockaday says the Man-Van will be well received where ever it goes.
“We’ve had a couple of events where we’ve had speakers talk about Combines for Cures and some of those events have included spouses and you can see the elbows in the room when the point is made to get tested. So there have been examples of times when farmers have gone in and got tested and have been happy for doing that because of the results they received,” says Hockaday.
Overwater says this simple test has a far reaching impact.
“It’s really important to recognize that you’re testing a man, but what you’re really doing is you’re saving more than a man, you’re saving a family, you’re saving a unit on the farm. I mean lots of time, there’s no one greater then another on the farm whether or talking about a husband or wife, but the husband is often the labour source, he’s often also the bank manager, he’s the veterinarian, he’s everything, and he’s also often the hockey and ball coach in town and sits on the Ag Society which puts on the rodeo. And when you lose people or these people get sick for a period of time it puts in jeopardy their farm and their family. And we don’t want to see that happen when it is so easy to prevent.”
This Man Van is only the second mobile PSA testing unit in the country, the first being in Calgary, which has tested 10,000 men since 2009.
The Combines for Cures is sponsored by Agrium Inc., Bayer CropScience Inc., W Brett Wilson and his 50th Birthday Colleagues, Monsanto Canada Inc., Penn West Exploration and AdFarm.
Rural Man Van Clinic Schedule:
Wednesday June 5th, 2013
Camrose CPS
CPS Location
4717 39th St., Camrose
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Thursday June 6th, 2013
Trochu CPS
Trochu Community Centre
N. Field Rd., Trochu
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Saturday June 15, 2013
Pete Knight Days Parade and Rodeo
Crossfield Rodeo Grounds.
12:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Saturday June 22nd, 2013
“Rural Ride for Dad Event”
Zion Chuch
Main St. Didsbury
3:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Sunday July 7th, 2013
Hays Stampede Breakfast
Heritage Park, Calgary
Parking Lot B
7:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Tuesday July 16th, 2013
Canada Malting Ltd.
Annual Farmers and Ranchers Classic Golf Tournament
Innisfail Golf Course, Innisfail
11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday July 19th and 20th, 2013
World Ploughing Championships
Olds College, Olds
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Thursday, July 25th, 2013
Agri-Food Canada
Alberta Agriculture Field Development Centre
Hwy 2A, Lacombe
7:30 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. & 9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Friday July 27th, 2013
Richardson Pioneer 100th Anniversary Celebration
Richardson Pioneer Elevator, Olds
11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
For more information go to www.getchecked.ca or call 403.943.8953
