Losing ‘Movember’ whiskers

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Neighbors | Submitted.Jim Tressel (left), president of Youngstown State University, Jonathon Fauvie of the Mercy Health Foundation and Dr. Daniel Ricchiuti of N.E.O. Urology, posed for a photo in Tressel’s office the day of the ‘Movember’ Shave-Off. Tressel, who didn’t grow his own mustache, improvised in support of the campaign.

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Neighbors | Submitted.Clean shaven after participating in the Movember campaign are, from left, Don Koenig, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Mercy Health Youngstown; Jonathon Fauvie of Mercy Health Foundation; Jon Sherman of Sherman and Associates; Dennis LaRue of The Business Journal and Brian Laraway of Bury Financial.

Men from throughout the community who took part in ‘Movember’ by growing and grooming their facial hair gathered Nov. 25 at Partners for Urology Health in Austintown to celebrate the close of another successful campaign with a group shave-off.

Movember is a month-long campaign in which men who are normally clean-shaven grow and groom their mustaches to spark conversations about prostate cancer and the importance of age-appropriate screenings. The local campaign is organized by Mercy Health Youngstown, formerly Humility of Mary Health Partners; Man Up Mahoning Valley, Mercy Health Youngstown Cancer Centers, Mercy Health Foundation and N.E.O. Urology.

This year, several local celebrities and community leaders took part, meeting to kick off the campaign with clean-shaven faces Nov. 3 and coming together again to show off the facial hair they’ve been grooming all month, share how they’ve encouraged other men to discuss prostate cancer screenings with their physicians, and to have their whiskers shaved away by professional barbers from Excalibur Barber Grooming Lounge, Boardman.

“Oh, I can’t wait. And my wife can’t wait either,” said Dr. Dan Ricchiuti a partner at N.E.O. Urology Associates, Boardman. Usually clean-shaven, Ricchiuti sported a neatly groomed goatee.

“I haven’t had a mustache since college,” added Don Koenig, executive vice president and chief operating officer, Mercy Health Youngstown.

The fringe on his upper lip surprised many of Koenig’s colleagues even though facial hair is popular among many Mercy Health workers during ‘Movember.’

“We do it because prostate cancer is not something guys like to talk about,” Dr. Ricchiuti said. “But it’s really important that they talk to their doctors about prostate cancer screening. Prostate cancer is very treatable,” he stressed. “Most of the time we can cure it if it is caught early, but that means guys need to get checked when they’re feeling good and don’t have any problems. Getting guys to see a doctor when they aren’t feeling sick is sometimes an issue.”

Motioning to his goatee, Ricchiuti said, “We do this to get guys talking and hopefully, to motivate them to do something that could save their lives.”

One in seven American men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point in their lives. More than 233,000 will be diagnosed this year and 29,480 of them will die. According to Man Up Mahoning Valley, African-American men are twice as likely to get prostate cancer and to die from it as any other race.