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Discussing Important Men's Issues With the 'Movember Institute of Men's Health' · The iHeart SoCal Show

0:00
Speaker 1: All right, the importance of men's health. We're talking the
0:02
Speaker 1: importance of men's health on this fine Father's Day. November
0:06
Speaker 1: is an annual global campaign where people grow a mustache
0:09
Speaker 1: throughout the month of November to raise funds and awareness
0:12
Speaker 1: for men's health issues, specifically focusing on mental health, suicide prevention,
0:18
Speaker 1: prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. June is also men's health months.
0:22
Speaker 1: So today being Father's Day, who wanted to speak to this?
0:26
Speaker 1: And also, you know, as we want the men in
0:27
Speaker 1: our lives to be as healthy as possible so they
0:30
Speaker 1: can stick around and drive us crazy. On to talk
0:34
Speaker 1: about this is doctor Joseph kill Gallon. Hi, doctor Joseph.
0:38
Speaker 2: Hey, Lisa, how you doing doing? All right?
0:39
Speaker 1: Wait? Am I saying Happy Father's Day to you? Are
0:41
Speaker 1: you a dad?
0:42
Speaker 2: I am not a father, but you can say Happy
0:44
Speaker 2: Father's Day if you want.
0:45
Speaker 1: Are you a cat dad or a dog dad? Those
0:47
Speaker 1: count I have.
0:48
Speaker 2: A dog by proxy. My girlfriend has a dog. Yeah, Dad,
0:53
Speaker 2: I'll give it to you.
0:53
Speaker 1: Okay, Happy Father's Day to all you cat and dog
0:56
Speaker 1: dads and pet dads as well. So, doctor Joseph, you
1:00
Speaker 1: are a researcher with the November Institute of men's health
1:03
Speaker 1: and you're also a social scientist.
1:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, well so, I'm a doctorate of anthropology. Got my
1:09
Speaker 2: degree just up the coast at the East Santa Barbara. Okay, yeah, yeah,
1:14
Speaker 2: So I've been working with the November Institute for Men's
1:18
Speaker 2: Health for about seven months now. Pretty amazing organization. I mean,
1:23
Speaker 2: for your listeners who might not be familiar November. We're
1:26
Speaker 2: the world's largest men's health charity and like you said,
1:29
Speaker 2: focusing on issues of prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health,
1:33
Speaker 2: suicide prevention. But we've been doing this for about a
1:36
Speaker 2: quarter of a century now, and you know, because we've
1:39
Speaker 2: been doing it so long, we've seen a lot of
1:40
Speaker 2: gaps out there in the research. We actually founded our
1:43
Speaker 2: own research institute, the November Institute for Men's Health, pretty recently,
1:47
Speaker 2: and it's a really incredible research, global research institute that
1:51
Speaker 2: is dedicated to building the evidence around these kind of
1:54
Speaker 2: key issues of men's health and then using those to
1:56
Speaker 2: develop some of these solutions. So that's some of the
1:59
Speaker 2: research that I'm a part of.
2:00
Speaker 1: Great.
2:01
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's an amazing place to be and we're just
2:03
Speaker 2: really committed to raising awareness for these issues so that
2:07
Speaker 2: whether it's a mental health struggle or physical health concern.
2:10
Speaker 2: You know, we can help men to get the help
2:12
Speaker 2: they need to engage with the health system earlier, reach
2:15
Speaker 2: out to a friend, get that health screening, because Yeah,
2:18
Speaker 2: like you said, we want to spend a long time
2:20
Speaker 2: with those men in our lives that we love.
2:22
Speaker 1: We do, we do. And I love that you're so
2:24
Speaker 1: passionate about this, doctor Joseph, not just because you're a man,
2:27
Speaker 1: but that you're so passionate about men's health and doing
2:29
Speaker 1: the work behind it to support these issues for yourself
2:33
Speaker 1: and others. I love doing this show on Father's Day.
2:36
Speaker 1: We did it last year on Father's Day, and it's
2:38
Speaker 1: such an important thing to address and call attention to
2:42
Speaker 1: because I feel like men's health issues are super important.
2:45
Speaker 1: As a gal very much in love with the man
2:49
Speaker 1: of my dreams, my guy six years Eric. You'll hear
2:51
Speaker 1: his name a lot in this conversation. You know, Eric,
2:55
Speaker 1: I think is a typical guy. I have to be
2:57
Speaker 1: on him constantly about all these gosh darns doctor's appointments,
3:01
Speaker 1: and so what is it about men who may or
3:05
Speaker 1: may not make their health or priority, you know? And
3:07
Speaker 1: thank goodness, they've got a nice lady in their life
3:09
Speaker 1: to say, hey, hone, did you call the doctor yet? Hey,
3:11
Speaker 1: we have to get your heart checked out. Hey what
3:13
Speaker 1: about that kolonoscopy? Hey have you had your proceed checked yet?
3:16
Speaker 1: How's your cholesterol? Have you had it checked? Let's do
3:19
Speaker 1: let's make it happen. You know, we got to get
3:21
Speaker 1: on them until we get the appointments schedule. But like,
3:24
Speaker 1: what is it about men that it's just like not happening?
3:26
Speaker 1: Why is it not their thing?
3:27
Speaker 2: Yeah? Well, I mean, first off, as a guy, you
3:30
Speaker 2: would know, right we need more women in our lives,
3:34
Speaker 2: and you know, encouraging us and telling us to get
3:37
Speaker 2: that doctor's appointment. I think we always say that at November.
3:40
Speaker 2: You know, some of the some of the biggest champions
3:42
Speaker 2: of men's health are women. You know, they're the ones
3:46
Speaker 2: nudging us, They're the ones helping us get those appointments. So,
3:48
Speaker 2: you know, put to see you all the other women
3:50
Speaker 2: out there who are who are really championing men's health,
3:53
Speaker 2: we wouldn't be here with that, y'all.
3:55
Speaker 1: You're welcome. You're welcome, all men, all men, you're welcome.
3:58
Speaker 1: For us, you're welcome, you're welcome.
4:01
Speaker 2: Well, thank you, I'll say thank you. On behalf of
4:04
Speaker 2: all men know, and I think, you know, there's a
4:08
Speaker 2: lot of different issues. And when we grow up as men,
4:10
Speaker 2: you know, we're often taught like tough it out, just
4:13
Speaker 2: you know, rub some dirt on it, you know, don't
4:16
Speaker 2: express your emotions, stuff it down, be stoic, be self reliant,
4:20
Speaker 2: you know, keep it to yourself. And I think a
4:22
Speaker 2: lot of guys feel these pressures. Kind of the interesting
4:26
Speaker 2: thing is we're doing a lot of research at the
4:28
Speaker 2: Institute on what we're calling the perception gap, which is
4:31
Speaker 2: this idea that men might believe a certain thing privately,
4:36
Speaker 2: so they might say, you know, actually, if you ask me,
4:39
Speaker 2: I feel really comfortable. I think it's really important for
4:42
Speaker 2: guys to go to the doctor, or guys to reach
4:44
Speaker 2: out when they're having a mental health concern, to like
4:46
Speaker 2: a friend or a therapist. But you know, when I
4:49
Speaker 2: look around, I don't think society feels the same way.
4:52
Speaker 2: You know, I actually think that they really believe that,
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Speaker 2: you know, I should stuff this down, that I should
4:57
Speaker 2: just tough it out. And this expectation that cold Troop
5:00
Speaker 2: demands them to you know, man up or rub some
5:03
Speaker 2: dirt on it is really a barrier to guys going
5:05
Speaker 2: getting that help their need. And so what we're really
5:08
Speaker 2: trying to do is go and correct that misperception the
5:12
Speaker 2: fact that we actually believe and we have data to
5:14
Speaker 2: support that. You know, when you ask guys, hey, do
5:18
Speaker 2: you think it's important to go to the doctor when
5:19
Speaker 2: you need help? Ninety percent of guys say yeah. When
5:22
Speaker 2: we ask them, you know, what about going to the
5:24
Speaker 2: therapist or expressing your emotions? You know, the majority of
5:27
Speaker 2: guys are saying yeah, you know, I personally believe that's
5:29
Speaker 2: really important.
5:30
Speaker 1: But do they do it? But right, But it's like,
5:32
Speaker 1: then the next episod do it pick up the phone,
5:34
Speaker 1: make the apployment call the number.
5:37
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, no, I think you're exactly right. And I
5:39
Speaker 2: think on that side too, it's also about, you know,
5:42
Speaker 2: making systems that feel comfortable and safe spaces for guys
5:46
Speaker 2: to come into. You know, we hear a lot from
5:48
Speaker 2: guys who go to therapy or things like this. They
5:50
Speaker 2: show up, but it's just not something that they're used
5:53
Speaker 2: to doing. And so sitting the idea of sitting down
5:55
Speaker 2: and talking about your emotions just something that's super uncomfortable
5:58
Speaker 2: for guys. Like we didn't we didn't grow up like
6:01
Speaker 2: talking about our feelings and yeah, and so something we're
6:03
Speaker 2: also trying to do at November is is to change
6:06
Speaker 2: the systems to make like make them comfortable for guys,
6:09
Speaker 2: meet guys where they're at. You know. One thing we
6:11
Speaker 2: have is our Men in Mind program, which is really
6:14
Speaker 2: about training therapists to give therapy to guys in a
6:17
Speaker 2: way that you know, might be more comfortable too guys.
6:20
Speaker 2: One way is like we talk about shoulder to shoulder therapy.
6:23
Speaker 2: So instead of kind of the traditional hey, you sit
6:26
Speaker 2: in the chair and I'll ask you questions, like maybe
6:28
Speaker 2: we go on a hike together. Maybe you know, we're
6:31
Speaker 2: working together to build something doing different tasks like that
6:36
Speaker 2: where guys can kind of let their guard down and
6:38
Speaker 2: don't feel like their emotions are the center part of
6:41
Speaker 2: the whole conversation. And so yeah, or.
6:43
Speaker 1: Being like put on the spot to like, oh, oh
6:45
Speaker 1: I'm not going to cry. I'm not going to cry.
6:47
Speaker 1: Don't don't make me try, or don't embarrass me, or yeah,
6:50
Speaker 1: you're right about these feelings. You know, it's can be
6:53
Speaker 1: a lot for guys, Like you said, dare I say,
6:55
Speaker 1: I mean, are we going to call it? It's kind
6:57
Speaker 1: of a stigma. It sounds like a bit of a
6:58
Speaker 1: stigma for guys to not be so open and touchy
7:01
Speaker 1: feely and to make their health a priority.
7:04
Speaker 2: Right, Yeah, I think that's exactly right. I think there's
7:07
Speaker 2: a lot of stigma, and I think a lot of
7:09
Speaker 2: guys feel uncomfortable like having these conversations. They don't they
7:14
Speaker 2: want to have them, but they don't know like if
7:17
Speaker 2: other people will be open to that, how to start
7:20
Speaker 2: the conversation. So that's something we're also really trying to
7:24
Speaker 2: promote it November, and we have a really cool resource
7:27
Speaker 2: on our website called the ALEC model, which is really
7:30
Speaker 2: just help you to approach these kind of uncomfy conversations.
7:35
Speaker 2: So it's an acronym. ALEC stands for ask, Listen, Encourage, action,
7:40
Speaker 2: and check in. And the whole idea is, you know,
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Speaker 2: ask the guys in your life how they're doing, Yeah, listen,
7:45
Speaker 2: give them your attention like you do, encourage them to
7:48
Speaker 2: take action, Hey did you call the doctor? Hey did
7:50
Speaker 2: you do that thing? And then a couple of days
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Speaker 2: check back in. Make sure that that they know that
7:56
Speaker 2: you're there, that they're supported, that you care about them.
7:58
Speaker 1: And ladies, what doctor Joseph is saying, crack that whip, crack.
8:01
Speaker 2: The whip, crack that whip.
8:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, and make it happen, and make it happen. But
8:05
Speaker 1: what I love about November again, which is the entire
8:08
Speaker 1: month of November. I love how it all got started
8:11
Speaker 1: a bit of a movement from these two guys. Share
8:15
Speaker 1: that story again because I love it. November dot com
8:17
Speaker 1: is the website, by the way, for all the information.
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Speaker 1: But these guys in Australia who kind of got this
8:21
Speaker 1: whole movement, started to put the emphasis in kind of
8:25
Speaker 1: a cool, fun way on men's health issues and it
8:28
Speaker 1: was so needed, like it wasn't happening all these years ago,
8:30
Speaker 1: and now it's a global movement because of what they started.
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Speaker 1: It's about a big group hug. I feel like around
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Speaker 1: men and their issues, like it's their time to be
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Speaker 1: on the forefront to talk about these things and deal
8:42
Speaker 1: with it, but also to know that they're not alone.
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Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, I love that. I love the big group hug.
8:46
Speaker 2: That sounds lovely. Yeah. No. The story really goes back
8:49
Speaker 2: to just you know, a couple of ouzie blokes back
8:51
Speaker 2: in the day, about twenty five years ago in a
8:54
Speaker 2: pub in Australia, just you know, saying, hey, what if
8:57
Speaker 2: we grew some mustaches this year. Back in the day,
9:01
Speaker 2: it wasn't as popular as it now is in southern
9:03
Speaker 2: California to rocket mustache, and so the guy said, you know, hey,
9:07
Speaker 2: we grow these mustaches, people are going to probably ask
9:09
Speaker 2: us like, what are you doing that for? And it'll
9:11
Speaker 2: be a great way to kind of help by stell
9:14
Speaker 2: sneak in and have these you know, important conversations around
9:17
Speaker 2: men's health. And that's what they did back then. And
9:20
Speaker 2: you know, twenty plus years later, we're now this global organization,
9:23
Speaker 2: the world's leading largest charity. And yeah, it's been it's
9:27
Speaker 2: inspired so many other folks to grow that mustache in November.
9:30
Speaker 2: I have these important conversations. It's it's it's so fun
9:34
Speaker 2: and yeah, that's kind of what I love about us
9:36
Speaker 2: in November. We're just always trying to approach these these
9:39
Speaker 2: topics in like silly, cheeky.
9:40
Speaker 1: Ways and men and the men who take this challenge,
9:43
Speaker 1: which by the way, you're open to do it this
9:45
Speaker 1: coming November. November men essentially kind of kick off a
9:49
Speaker 1: challenge where they'll just you'll shave before and then starting
9:52
Speaker 1: November first, you'll start to grow mustache, and then some
9:55
Speaker 1: people do not look good or does not grow so mark.
10:00
Speaker 1: Part of the charm of this is also people asking
10:03
Speaker 1: what is on the top of your lip? What what
10:06
Speaker 1: is that? Why are you doing this? Shave it off?
10:08
Speaker 1: Looks terrible? Why are you doing this? While I'm doing
10:10
Speaker 1: this to get attention, and there's also fundraisers and it's
10:14
Speaker 1: just a way to get the conversation started. I'm doing
10:16
Speaker 1: this to raise money around men's health issues. So I
10:19
Speaker 1: love the men who do the November Mustache Challenge and
10:22
Speaker 1: they do it for the full thirty days and at
10:25
Speaker 1: the end there's big like mustache shaving parties and fundraisers
10:28
Speaker 1: around Irish pubs and any bars, bars and restaurants all
10:31
Speaker 1: over town. And I just again, it's about into conversations
10:35
Speaker 1: going and so it's a really fun way to talk
10:37
Speaker 1: about men's health issues. How did you guys break it
10:40
Speaker 1: down to these being like the at the top level
10:43
Speaker 1: of the most maybe the more important issues that men
10:46
Speaker 1: face mental health, suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
10:50
Speaker 1: How did you hone in on those four as being
10:52
Speaker 1: the four biggies?
10:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean when you look at answer diagnoses in
10:56
Speaker 2: the US. You know, prostate cancer, that's the most diagnosed
11:00
Speaker 2: cancer in men. One in eight men in the US
11:03
Speaker 2: will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime. So
11:05
Speaker 2: just it's extremely prevalent. You know, it's one in six
11:09
Speaker 2: for black men, So something really serious. It just affects men.
11:13
Speaker 2: Testicular cancer that's the most diagnosed cancer in young men,
11:17
Speaker 2: so men fifteen to thirty four. I was personally shocked
11:20
Speaker 2: when I figured that out. I'm thirty years old, and
11:22
Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I got to go, you know,
11:24
Speaker 2: talk to my doctor about this. Yeah. So, yeah, just
11:27
Speaker 2: just some crazy things that I think often men aren't
11:29
Speaker 2: aware of. And then you know, when it comes to
11:31
Speaker 2: mental health and suicide prevention, I think we're hearing it
11:34
Speaker 2: a lot now, like the rise of mental health challenges
11:37
Speaker 2: and social disconnection. But unfortunately that's really a leading cause
11:41
Speaker 2: of premature death for men. Unfortunately, men are almost four
11:45
Speaker 2: times more likely to die by suicide than women. And yeah,
11:50
Speaker 2: I know. And so it's just a cause that we
11:53
Speaker 2: think is really important and something that's unfortunately placing a
11:57
Speaker 2: really heavy burden on men and boys, something that we're
12:00
Speaker 2: just really dedicated to trying to solve so that we
12:02
Speaker 2: can have more time with those loved ones.
12:05
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, and to talk about it more and to
12:07
Speaker 1: make it okay to talk about it, and to make
12:08
Speaker 1: it okay to talk to your guys about it, and
12:10
Speaker 1: to make it okay for them to talk about it
12:12
Speaker 1: and feel comfortable talking about it. There's a wealth of
12:14
Speaker 1: resources and information on the website November dot com. What
12:18
Speaker 1: can we do as people listening to this who have
12:21
Speaker 1: a man that we love, many men, young men, older men, dads, brothers, sons, cousins, neighbors,
12:27
Speaker 1: you name it. What can we do we have men
12:30
Speaker 1: in our lives that we love that we care about
12:32
Speaker 1: aside from like a you know, joked about earlier like
12:34
Speaker 1: crack of the whip, make those doctors appointments. And kudos
12:36
Speaker 1: to my Eric. He has checked off many of the
12:38
Speaker 1: medical boxes now in terms of prostate colonasket pee. His
12:44
Speaker 1: heart was a biggie. He's got cholesterol all checked out.
12:47
Speaker 1: So we're on top of like the biggies. Right, the
12:49
Speaker 1: older you get, there are concerns mental health, of course,
12:51
Speaker 1: we talk every day about all that. Amazing amazing And
12:56
Speaker 1: as a cat dad, you know, we've got a little
12:58
Speaker 1: our little rescue kitty and wells. Having you know, a
13:01
Speaker 1: little furry bestie certainly as good I think for everyone's
13:04
Speaker 1: mental health having a furry besty. But what can we
13:06
Speaker 1: do as people listening? What can we do to yea
13:10
Speaker 1: better support the men in our lives? You know, Look,
13:12
Speaker 1: even if your father's no longer with us, if you
13:15
Speaker 1: don't you know, have any male siblings, We have coworkers,
13:17
Speaker 1: we have father figures in our lives. We've got neighbors
13:21
Speaker 1: and people that we know and love. We've got our
13:23
Speaker 1: gay besties. We've got a lot of men in our
13:25
Speaker 1: lives that we need to check in on, right, call
13:28
Speaker 1: them up, check in, send a little text, phone call,
13:31
Speaker 1: reach out. Is it as simple as that? Just Hey,
13:33
Speaker 1: how you feeling? How you doing? Give a little the
13:36
Speaker 1: medical nudge, how yeah, physically, how are you doing? All
13:39
Speaker 1: this stuff?
13:40
Speaker 2: I mean, I think that's huge and you cannot like
13:42
Speaker 2: underestimate how life changing, even you know, life saving it
13:46
Speaker 2: can be to just check in on the people you love,
13:49
Speaker 2: ask them how they're doing, and just give them the
13:51
Speaker 2: time to listen. I think that's huge and can now
13:53
Speaker 2: be underestimated. And yeah, dude, stuff you're doing. Crack that
13:56
Speaker 2: with you know, encourage that they're getting that preventive health care,
14:00
Speaker 2: they're doing the regular checkups. But you know, also we
14:03
Speaker 2: know that more and more people are feeling socially disconnected,
14:07
Speaker 2: and so just the importance of you know, schedule that
14:09
Speaker 2: fun thing, make time to connect with those men in
14:12
Speaker 2: your life that you you know, love and care about,
14:15
Speaker 2: have that you know, quality fun interaction. And yeah, I mean,
14:19
Speaker 2: if anything, I think i'd also just encourage the fathers
14:21
Speaker 2: out there. You be a model of what it means
14:25
Speaker 2: to be a healthier man. Take care of yourself or
14:27
Speaker 2: the ones that you love. Show that it's it's not
14:31
Speaker 2: weak to admit that you're struggling to go and get
14:35
Speaker 2: that check up. But actually that's really the way that
14:37
Speaker 2: you model being a father who cares for their family.
14:42
Speaker 2: We know that we have these healthy fathers. You know,
14:45
Speaker 2: it's got huge ripple effects, Like you got healthier families,
14:48
Speaker 2: got healthier communities. So also just really encourage on these fathers' days,
14:53
Speaker 2: just you know, hey, dad's out there, we love you
14:56
Speaker 2: all so much, we want to spend more time with you.
14:58
Speaker 2: Please take care of your so we can spend many,
15:01
Speaker 2: many more of these Fathers days with you.
15:03
Speaker 1: Even if you drive, it's crazy. We want you around,
15:06
Speaker 1: we need you here, and we need you healthy. We
15:08
Speaker 1: need to make sure you are in a good place mentally, emotionally, physically,
15:13
Speaker 1: all this stuff and again focusing on areas of mental health,
15:17
Speaker 1: suicide prevention, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer. A wealth of
15:20
Speaker 1: information and resources on the November dot com website, and
15:24
Speaker 1: fun and fundraising. They put the fun and fundraising every
15:28
Speaker 1: November aka Movember when you grow your your mow, your
15:32
Speaker 1: your mustache. And then just the focus is all about
15:35
Speaker 1: this issue, the focus on men's health and raising money
15:37
Speaker 1: and having a little fun while doing it. Yeah, so
15:40
Speaker 1: just the focus on men's health and what we can
15:42
Speaker 1: do about it, and having these conversations about the people
15:44
Speaker 1: that we love and even total strangers. I'm not afraid
15:47
Speaker 1: to talk to a stranger either. I may not ask
15:48
Speaker 1: but as prostate right away, but I will ask about
15:52
Speaker 1: his general health. And you know, you just don't be
15:55
Speaker 1: afraid to ask a man, any man, if he's going
15:59
Speaker 1: to the doctor, if he's feeling and good, if you
16:00
Speaker 1: need anything, and if I can do anything to help, right,
16:03
Speaker 1: it'd be nice though. That's a nice little elevator conversation.
16:05
Speaker 1: Come on, doctor, Joseph.
16:07
Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure, for sure, we love it. We talked
16:10
Speaker 2: about these mustaches is walking billboards and once you've got one,
16:13
Speaker 2: like my dad works in construction and he tried to
16:16
Speaker 2: grow one last year and he was one of those
16:18
Speaker 2: guys who you couldn't really grow the fluffiest of mustache.
16:22
Speaker 2: But it led to a lot of conversations of guys saying,
16:25
Speaker 2: that's good. What's going on with you up for list there?
16:27
Speaker 2: And yeah, it led to some really great conversations about health.
16:30
Speaker 1: So I love that, so yeah, so important. All the
16:33
Speaker 1: information at November dot com. Happy Fathers Day everyone, and
16:37
Speaker 1: go to the doctor. Darn it, go to the doctor.
16:40
Speaker 1: Don't be afraid to reach out. Doctor Joseph kill Gallan,
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Speaker 1: thank you so much for your time and all that
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Speaker 1: you're doing for men's health. There to November, the November
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Speaker 1: Institute of Men's Health.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, amazing, Thank you so much. Well, Happy
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Speaker 2: Father's Data to Eric and to all your listeners.
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Speaker 1: Happy Father's Day.