After a visit to CAMH in April 2000, by the Medical Health Officer from the Regional Health Service, Canada closely watched the progress of the Programs and work offered by the Centre.

"Health promotion programs in Canada have focused on a variety of issues and target groups including women, children, aboriginal people, visible minorities, and the economically disadvantaged; but there have been few programs developed specifically for men. Most people here assume that men, by virtue of their economic advantages in society, must be correspondingly healthy. Those of us who look at health statistics know, however that being male is a risk factor for premature mortality from infancy through to old age.

There is increasing recognition of this issue, but little yet in the way of programming. I was most impressed with what I saw taking place at the Center for Advancement of Men's Health during my visit to Australia last year, and was pleased that Bernard Denner expressed an interest in coming here to help us put men's health on the map. We have established a partnership with the Rotary clubs to sponsor a series of men's health nights here and to learn more about the MAN Model during Bernard's visit to our Region in May. The timing is excellent for us and we are very excited about this international collaboration with Australia. We'll do what we can to bring Bernard up to speed on ice hockey before we send him home," said David Bowering M.D. MHSc., Medical Health Officer, North Okanagan Health Region British Columbia Canada