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Breaking the silence: Speaking to survivors of prostate cancer · 20-Minute Health Talk

• 0:08
  what do you
• 0:09
  hope men take away after watching this film?
• 0:12
  I want men to be empowered.
• 0:13
  After watching this video, I want men to to take the first step.
• 0:18
  To have the conversation either either with if they have a spouse
• 0:22
  at home to talk about what they're feeling or or to talk to their doctor.
• 0:27
  I think we don't do that, as men enough, especially for me
• 0:30
  coming from a Caribbean background.
• 0:33
  You know, there's a lot of stigma with that, with, you know, shame,
• 0:36
  like you said, and not wanting to take your health seriously.
• 0:40
  But what I want is for people to just watch the video and,
• 0:44
  you know, feel empowered, learn from these, these gentlemen
• 0:48
  and what they went through and, take the first step.
• 0:59
  Hello and
• 1:00
  welcome to a bonus episode of 20 Minute Health Talk.
• 1:04
  I'm Sandra Lindsay.
• 1:06
  My guest today is Richard LaRochelle, principal for community health
• 1:11
  at North Wales Institute for Community Health and Wellness.
• 1:15
  Richard has a passion for amplifying community voices,
• 1:19
  and he put that into action through an educational video
• 1:23
  that brought together men, including community leader Tony Hillary and NBA
• 1:29
  great Allan Houston, to speak candidly about their prostate cancer journeys.
• 1:35
  That project not only broke the silence around
• 1:39
  a two often unspoken truth,
• 1:42
  but it also earned a Telly Award.
• 1:45
  Richard, I'm excited to talk to you today.
• 1:48
  Thank you.
• 1:49
  So let's jump right into it.
• 1:51
  What inspired you to take on this project and use this educational video
• 1:57
  as a way to talk about prostate cancer?
• 1:59
  Yeah.
• 2:00
  So we all know, like the statistics, about prostate cancer
• 2:04
  and how it disproportionately affects, black men.
• 2:08
  And after my father's diagnosis in 2018,
• 2:11
  having to see what he went through and a few years later
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  hearing about Mitch Cornett, who my colleague is,
• 2:19
  you know, the struggle that he went through, dealing with prostate cancer.
• 2:23
  You know, we felt compelled to, like, put the video together
• 2:26
  to put real voices, real faces to the disease.
• 2:30
  And, you know, just to have people just feel open about talking about it.
• 2:35
  I think that's what, you know,
• 2:38
  really resonated with folks, you know, because you could see that
• 2:41
  you could see statistics on paper and understand the effects of the disease.
• 2:45
  But when you actually hear someone talking about their journey
• 2:48
  and what they went through, I think it moves people more.
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  And it gives people like, you know, just the,
• 2:55
  I guess, the okay to talk about it, you know, with other colleagues, other
• 2:59
  friends, their spouse, you know, so that was the real reason to really just,
• 3:03
  put real faces and voices to those who are going through it.
• 3:08
  That's amazing.
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  And we spoke to Mitch earlier, in episode
• 3:12
  two and heard his powerful story.
• 3:15
  So you got together, some really powerhouse men?
• 3:20
  Yes. Our very own Mitch Cornett.
• 3:23
  You spoke with Tony Hillery, founder and executive
• 3:27
  director of Harlem Grown, who does amazing work in Harlem.
• 3:32
  Allan Houston, former New York Knicks,
• 3:35
  star Reverend Malcolm Byrd, among others.
• 3:40
  What was that like? Oh, it was incredible.
• 3:43
  In putting this group together was sort of like a dream come true.
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  Like, you know, we had our, individuals that we've spoken to privately about.
• 3:52
  You know, them dealing with prostate cancer
• 3:55
  and to be able to get all of them in a room together to discuss it as a group.
• 3:59
  It I couldn't ask for anything more.
• 4:01
  I mean, it was exactly what we were hoping for.
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  It would be.
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  I mean, you have you mentioned Tony Hillary and you mentioned Allan Houston.
• 4:08
  These these gentlemen are leaders in their community.
• 4:11
  Tony, for the work that he does in Harlem and for, you know what?
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  What, Allan Houston has done in his NBA career to be able to hear from them
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  firsthand what they went through and how they overcame.
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  You know, hearing about their prostate cancer diagnosis.
• 4:28
  It was incredible just to just to see a leader.
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  I think that what gives other people
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  permission to be able to say, you know what?
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  If these guys can do it?
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  They can talk about it and they can feel comfortable about it.
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  I can too, you know, and I think them putting their health first
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  and just speaking, frankly about it with a group of other men,
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  it was incredible just to, just to hear it.
• 4:51
  I, I agree, I enjoyed watching the video.
• 4:55
  They were very open and honest and as a matter of fact,
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  I spoke to Allan's wife, Tamara and Mary Hillary,
• 5:03
  about their experience as caregivers.
• 5:05
  you had to have created a safe space for these men to be able to open up and share.
• 5:10
  So how did you do that?
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  Because they were so candid. Yeah.
• 5:15
  And that's that was the that was a big tricky part of us putting this, together
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  was that we wanted to create that, environment of trust.
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  And so we wanted to make it similar to, like, a barbershop feel.
• 5:27
  So we, you know, as men
• 5:29
  talk all kind of stuff at the barbershop, that's your same space in the same space.
• 5:33
  So once we created that type of environment, I mean, the way we did it.
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  And all credit goes to American Cancer Society for being able
• 5:41
  to, have us hosted at the Hope Lodge.
• 5:44
  And what we did was we designed the room, to make
• 5:47
  it seem like a more intimate, discussion that we were going to have.
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  And, you know, a lot of things happened.
• 5:53
  You know, a lot of conversations happened at barbershops.
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  And, what we want to do is kind of mimic that a little bit.
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  Even before we started filming, we, you know, we all spoke about regular,
• 6:03
  you know, common things that were going on.
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  We talked about sports, we talked about music.
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  And then once it was time for us to sit down and, for these gentlemen
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  to sit down and talk about, you know, their what, their health journey.
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  It was like you're talking to it's natural. Right.
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  You've never it's like you've known them for years.
• 6:20
  Yeah.
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  And that's, I think what, made the difference
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  and made them feel a little bit more comfortable.
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  And that's what it felt like speaking to the wives.
• 6:27
  Yeah.
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  And I can't wait for our audience to hear that episode.
• 6:31
  As a storyteller, though.
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  What moments in filming stood out to you the most?
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  Was there a conversation or insight that really stayed with you?
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  So if you watch the video, it's meant to coordinate talks very, candidly
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  and frankly about his what happened, you know, during his cancer diagnosis.
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  And when he said that his doctor told him that he may not be able to walk down
• 6:56
  the aisle.
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  Walk his daughter down the aisle.
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  That struck a chord with me.
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  I know it struck a chord with a lot of men that, watched the video as well.
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  Their their spouses and caregivers were watching as well.
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  And, you know, hearing something like that, you know,
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  you get taken aback by it and it makes you stop to thinking like,
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  wow, that, you know, the impact that can have on my family
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  if I don't put my health first, if I don't,
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  you know, speak more frankly about what's going on with me.
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  I think hearing that, to me was the most poignant moment of the video.
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  And the fact that Mitch
• 7:33
  did everything in his power to to make sure that that will happen.
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  You know, he, he he took his health serious and,
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  you know, he it's inspiring just to hear him, to hear Tony
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  Allen just talking about how they, you know, said, you know what?
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  Let's we're going to take our health serious.
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  We're going to go to the doctor,
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  we're going to get checked, we're going to get screened.
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  And we're going to be able to talk about it as a group of guys
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  and know that it's there's nothing there's no stigma.
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  There's no there's nothing wrong. There is no shame.
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  We didn't do anything wrong.
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  Yeah.
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  The video was so inspiring.
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  And by the way, how can our listeners access the video?
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  Where can they find it?
• 8:13
  So the video lives on the on our Cancer Institute website.
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  Northwell, dot edu slash cancer institute.
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  You can also find it on YouTube.
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  By searching the unspoken truth.
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  And we've screened it at different community health centers.
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  We screened it at churches.
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  And we screened it with other folks
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  in the community, community leaders, to have them shared as well.
• 8:36
  So, but you can find it on YouTube and on the Cancer Institute website,
• 8:40
  and we'll be we will be sharing it here, in the links
• 8:45
  to our, on our podcast, site.
• 8:48
  So, Richard, what do you hope men take away after watching this film?
• 8:53
  I want men to be empowered.
• 8:54
  After watching this video, I want men to to take the first step.
• 8:59
  To have the conversation either either with if they have a spouse
• 9:03
  at home to talk about what they're feeling or or to talk to their doctor.
• 9:08
  I think we don't do that, as men enough, especially for me
• 9:11
  coming from a Caribbean background.
• 9:14
  You know, there's a lot of stigma with that, with, you know, shame,
• 9:17
  like you said, and not wanting to take your health seriously.
• 9:21
  But what I want is for people to just watch the video and,
• 9:25
  you know, feel empowered, learn from these, these gentlemen
• 9:29
  and what they went through and, take the first step.
• 9:34
  We also want our women to watch the video because sometimes
• 9:37
  they're the ones to nudge the men.
• 9:40
  You know, to take charge.
• 9:42
  So congratulations on winning the tele award.
• 9:48
  What did that recognition mean to you and to the men
• 9:51
  who bravely share their stories?
• 9:54
  Thank you so much.
• 9:55
  For me, the the the video, the the tele award
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  meant a lot to me, but I think all credit goes to the men who
• 10:02
  were on, who are featured in the video.
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  I think for them to be able to have the courage to speak the way that
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  they spoke, and for it to, for the video to be shared around the world
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  because the tele award, it gets spread out throughout six different continents.
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  Which means that a lot of people, have seen it, and I think it gives
• 10:23
  that validation to show that there's a group of men, to sit down. Six.
• 10:28
  For this group of men to sit down and talk so candidly about their health.
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  Meant a lot.
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  So I give all credit to those gentlemen who were on that panel
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  and who, bravely talked about their health journey.
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  Amazing, amazing work.
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  And you're being modest.
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  But kudos to you as well for using your personal experience
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  and that of your colleague to say, hey, we need to get a group of men together.
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  Together.
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  Get a group of men together to talk about this.
• 11:00
  So how do you see this film
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  being used going forward, whether in community health outreach,
• 11:07
  education or how can we use this to inspire other conversations?
• 11:13
  Yeah.
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  So I, I would love to see this video played everywhere.
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  All the community centers that, you know, community health centers,
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  every barber shop or shops, that's another place,
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  churches take it to the beauty salons as well as well.
• 11:28
  Yeah, yeah.
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  That where anyone could be able to watch the video I think is important.
• 11:32
  Obviously we have the online platform where the video lives on YouTube.
• 11:36
  You know, that's that obviously could be the number one place to to share it.
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  But I want, you know, as a group, viewing experience to share it
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  with, you know, anyone in your community, community leaders.
• 11:48
  You know, I think it's important for,
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  to show it to as many people as possible and hopefully we could save some lives.
• 11:54
  Well, Richard, thank you so much for sitting down to share with me.
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  I can't congratulate you enough.
• 12:01
  I look forward to more storytelling to highlight
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  some of our health challenges and to just educate our communities.
• 12:12
  Whenever you, you
• 12:13
  know, do another video or anything else
• 12:17
  you'd like to highlight, please come back to 20 Minute Health Talk.
• 12:20
  You have a home here.
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  And to our listeners, thank you so much for listening.
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  be well and thank you for listening.
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  I'm Sandra Lindsay.