Prevent it like a gentleman

In conjunction with the International Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride and the organisation Movember, MAR Shopping Algarve hosted a “Prevent it Like a Gentleman” event for the third year in a row. For each of the three years, the focus of the event has been men’s health — highlighting prostate cancer screening and suicide prevention.

To make the event happen, our meeting place team partnered with the MAR Shopping Algarve HPA clinic to provide free prostate cancer screening. A local barber offered excellent haircuts and well-styled beards, and people showed up in support of the event on motorcycles and scooters ranging from vintage to brand new. Another main feature of the event each year is an indoor exhibit of actual motorcycles that are surrounded by a photography exhibit. If someone wanted to leave with a lasting impression from the event, the team also brought in an ink artist that did on-the-spot tattoos.

MAR Shopping Algarve’s initiative had a great response from the local communities, and there was plenty of love and support shown by all participants.

A major goal of the event for the meeting place is to be a consistent and caring partner in the community by helping people live healthier lives — and we’re definitely making a difference! Since 2018, there’s been more than 700 free prostate screenings, which is quite a lot in a short period of time. During this latest event the screening team detected early stages of prostate cancer in at least one person that may have otherwise progressed undetected.

With pathologies like prostate cancer, early prevention is key. And addressing mental health issues can be difficult if you don’t feel supported or people don’t talk about it. But what if we could approach this sort of serious matters also in new, unexpected and more engaging ways? Would it possible to successfully raise awareness? The results of Prevent it Like a Gentleman and the widely positive response from our visitors at MAR Shopping Algarve show us that yes – it is definitely possible!