Mens Health Educational Rotary Van (mherv)
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The establishment of mherv was a project of the Rotary Club of Warners Bay and Rutherford-Telarah, and is funded wholly from sponsorship and donations, including the ongoing sponsorship of nursing services from the Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution.
Rotary realised that many male farmers living and working on busy farms from dawn to dusk paid little attention to their health issues and passed off things like pain as simple indigestion etc. After several reported cases of farmers being found deceased at the wheel of their tractor from heart attack and other conditions, Rotary felt that they could provide a service of taking medical education to rural areas rather than these men taking the time out of their long, busy days to visit a doctor.
Since 2017, 8214 men in more than 100 towns across rural and regional NSW have been tested in MHERV, and 300 were referred for urgent medical attention.
"I come across guys who haven't seen a doctor for years," says registered nurse Robert Woolley, who conducts the health checks.
"I know any client I have consulted has left knowing more about their health than before they visited the MHERV project, and I believe many lives have been directly or indirectly saved."
The free, 10-minute health check includes blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar tests.
Rotary Nowra has hosted mherv on a number of occasions over the years at the Bunnings car parkSouth Nowra
The mherv project management team believes that with COVID manageable within the community, we can schedule a new tour beginning in February 2022.
To prepare a workable schedule they are asking for expressions of interest from Clubs willing to host the mherv project sometime between the 1st February and 15th March 2022.
It is anticipated that the board will support this project and call for a few Rotarian and FoR volunteers to assist for the 2 days that mherv will be in Nowra.
Specific dates and times will be advised and volunteers called for in a future bulletins.