Health fair focuses on men’s health issues

Kenneth Woodham was confident he would receive a clean bill of health when he arrived at Dothan High School last year to attend a Men’s Health Day sponsored by Southeast Alabama Medical Center. He believed he would breeze through the screenings with no problem since he was not experiencing any aches or pains.

Woodham sat down at the carotid ultrasound imaging table first, where he learned that illness does not always have outward warning signs. The retired warehouse manager remembers the results hitting him “like a ton of bricks,” recalling the screening indicated a blockage. He was advised to schedule an appointment with a physician for further evaluation. Dr. Randall Nichols, a general surgeon at the medical center, told Woodham he had more than a 70-percent blockage, and he would need surgery.

“It scared me, it really did,” recalls Woodham. But it was what Woodham found out after surgery that really disturbed him. “I learned it was a 95-percent blockage,” says Woodham. “I could have had a stroke. There’s no telling what shape I would have been in. The Lord was looking after me.”

It was Woodham’s sister-inlaw, who works at the medical center, who convinced him to attend the health fair. “Normally, I wouldn’t have gone,” Woodham said.

Men’s Health Day raises awareness about men’s health issues and exposes them to healthy living. Southeast Alabama Medical Center held its first community health fair for men more than 15 years ago, and each year the event has drawn 250 to 300 men of all races, ages and socioeconomic levels, according to hospital staff. A husband and father of a teenage son, Woodham is appreciative someone cared enough to encourage him to pay attention to his health.

“I’m doing great, no problems whatsoever,” Woodham said. “The health fair saved my life. It was just a miracle I went and had everything checked.”