For The New York Times Magazine, Abelin-Bevier Fellow Helen Ouyang reports on how men in the United States are much less likely to see a doctor regularly. Men are more likely to die at a younger — male life expectancy at birth is currently 5.3 years less than it is for women — and men have died at higher rates of 14 of the top 15 cases of death. Ouyang visited the Cutler Center for Men at University Hospitals in Ohio, a clinical space aimed at tackling men’s lack of engagement with the healthcare system.
On top of providing access to primary care and other specialties, the Cutler Center also hosts events and classes to provide a space for men to make meaningful connections with each other. The Center has produced meaningful results, with members nearly 40 percent more likely to have attended a scheduled doctor’s visit in the past year. Ouyang writes:
At one point during my visit to the Cutler Center, I couldn’t help thinking, All of this just to get men to do what they should be doing anyway? But in the E.R., where I so often encounter patients after it’s already too late — in their final hour, even — the answer is plain. This month, I diagnosed a man with widespread nasopharyngeal cancer, after he quietly suffered for most of this year without letting anyone know. Not long before that, I treated a man for a major heart attack, whose medical chart until that point was completely blank. Others were carried in after an overdose or suicide attempt their families never saw coming. And more men are on their way.