Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mens Health topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Thurston County Board of Health proclaims June 2025 Men’s Health Month
Summary
The board read a proclamation designating June as Men’s Health Month and heard remarks from the county population health staff and community members about male health disparities, prevention and mental-health outreach.
The Thurston County Board of Health on June 10 read and commemorated a proclamation recognizing June 2025 as Men’s Health Month and heard remarks from county staff and community representatives about health disparities affecting men and boys.
Neil Sharp, identified as a population health staff member in the county’s Public Health and Social Services Department, told the board that men face higher rates of premature death from heart disease, cancer, overdose and suicide and that local data reflect national trends in which men are less likely to seek timely health care. “By proclaiming June as men's health month in Thurston County, we send a clear message. Men's health matters,” he said.
The proclamation text notes that men in the United States and in Washington state experience higher death rates for many leading causes, cites a 2023 male suicide rate figure included in the proclamation, and encourages preventive screenings and efforts to reduce stigma around seeking care. The board read the proclamation into the record and did not take a separate roll-call vote during the reading.
Several community members addressed the board in support of the proclamation. Judge Brett Buckley (described in his remarks as working in mental-health and veterans court) spoke about the intersection of mental health, substance use and men’s health, described typical case histories encountered in therapeutic courts, and urged practical, everyday steps—screenings, vaccines, nutrition and outdoor activity—as part of prevention and recovery work.
A written comment from Kayoki (Kayoki Howyouannoy, listed in the transcript as staff with Family Education & Support Services) was read into the record; the comment described parenting programs that emphasize fathers’ engagement and argued that improving men’s health supports family stability.
The board thanked speakers and moved on to other agenda items. The transcript records the proclamation reading and public remarks but does not show a recorded roll-call vote on the proclamation; the item proceeded without further formal action recorded in the meeting minutes excerpt.
