Newsroom

Newsroom

Cincinnati Children’s Emergency Department Doctors Participate in ‘Movemeber’ by Growing Facial Hair for a Good Cause

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

In November, a group of male Emergency Department doctors from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center decided to participate in Movember, an international effort to raise awareness about prostate and testicular cancer.

According to the Movember website, “During November each year, Movember is responsible for the sprouting of moustaches on thousands of men’s faces, in the US and around the world. With their Mo's, these men raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives. Once registered at www.movember.com, men start November 1st clean shaven. For the rest of the month, these selfless and generous men, known as Mo Bros, groom, trim and wax their way into the annals of fine moustachery. Supported by the women in their lives, Mo Sistas, Movember Mo Bros raise funds by seeking out sponsorship for their Mo-growing efforts.” Each of the Cincinnati Children’s team members vowed not to shave their mustaches until after Nov. 30.

Cincinnati Children’s Movember team captain and Emergency Room doctor, Nathan Timm says that he was first inspired to start a Movember team when he’d read about the awareness campaign and had listened to an inspirational talk about it online. From there he asked a few of his colleagues if they’d be interested in participating with him by growing mustaches and helping to fundraise for the cause.

“I initially only asked a handful of people if they wanted to participate with me and after there seemed to be great interest from them I decided to ask all of the Emergency Department faculty. We ended up having 20 men grow facial hair,” says Timm. “Our mustaches created a lot of conversations and even camaraderie between the staff. It was something that all of us had fun doing,” he says.

Timm has personal reasons for wanting to participate in Movember. His grandfather was diagnosed with prostate cancer and passed away due to complications from the disease and his father was also diagnosed with prostate cancer. His father survived the illness. Knowing that two of his closest family members battled the disease Timm jumped at the chance to help spread awareness about prostate cancer.

Joe Luria, MD, one of the Cincinnati Children’s Movember team members and the Medical Director for the hospital’s Emergency Department says that when he first heard of Cincinnati Children’s staff members participating in the effort he thought it was a great idea. And he found out that he was right. “It (the campaign) ended up being a great way to rally our department together and it brought us closer together as a team. It made people laugh and it opened up the door for us to talk about the disease.”

Luria too, has experienced loved ones being affected by prostate cancer. “In the last five years three of my friends have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. They’re all cancer free now but it hit close to home having that many men around my age being diagnosed with the disease,” he says.

Luria says that Movember is a great way to help raise awareness about the illness. “At the end of the day when you can get people to rally together for a great cause and have fun while doing it is a win-win situation.”

To learn more about Movember, please visit www.movember.com  

*As of Nov. 30, the Cincinnati Children’s team ranked as 599 out of 21,000 international fundraising teams for Movember.

About Cincinnati Children’s

Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center ranks third in the nation among all Honor Roll hospitals in U.S. News and World Report’s 2012 Best Children’s Hospitals ranking. It is ranked #1 for neonatology and in the top 10 for all pediatric specialties. Cincinnati Children’s is one of the top two recipients of pediatric research grants from the National Institutes of Health, and a research and teaching affiliate of the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The medical center is internationally recognized for improving child health and transforming delivery of care through fully integrated, globally recognized research, education and innovation. Additional information can be found at www.cincinnatichildrens.org