Men’s Night Out draws more than 400 attendees

More than 400 men participated in Tri-County Health Care’s 18th annual Men’s Night Out, a free health education program, on Monday, April 16, at Wadena-Deer Creek Elementary School. The event kicked off with dinner served by the Boondocks Café and an opportunity for attendees to learn about various topics at educational health booths. Tri-County Health Care staff provided complimentary lab testing and health screenings.

Later in the evening, Ben Hess, M.D., gave a brief presentation about the opioid epidemic in Minnesota and Wadena County. He highlighted what Tri-County is doing to combat the epidemic, including creating an opioid management program based on CHI St. Gabriel’s model, implementing new CDC recommendations and using alternative pain management such as rehabilitation. Tri-County also received a nearly $40,000 grant to help with its opioid management program.

A panel of Hess; Aaron Larson, M.D.; and Steve Davis, M.D.; then conducted a question and answer session about men’s health topics. Rick Youngbauer served as the emcee.

Following the panel, former Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau took the stage as the keynote speaker. Prompted by questions from Youngbauer, Morneau talked about his baseball career and his new role as operations manager with the Twin. He also touched on healthy lifestyle changes he has implemented. “I was just looking for an answer on how to stay healthy, and I decided I was going to change my diet and I was going to start eating a lot healthier,” he said. “Once I started to feel how much better I felt and the affect it had on me, I wish I would have told that 21-year-old version of myself, ‘Hey, you should probably be doing this before you get hurt instead of getting hurt and then trying to fix yourself.’”

Morneau then took questions from audience members. The evening concluded with the grand prize drawing of 15 winners chosen to participate in a meet and greet with Morneau. They each received a photo with Morneau and a signed baseball.

This year’s sponsors included Tri-County Health Care, Tri-County Health Care Foundation and the Tri-County Health Care Auxiliary.

ABOUT TRI-COUNTY HEALTH CARE

Tri-County Health Care is a private, not-for-profit health care system located in Wadena, Minnesota. It offers care services such as minimally invasive surgery, cancer care, diagnostic imaging, obstetrics and rehabilitation. Tri-County operates a 25-bed hospital and medical clinic in Wadena, as well as six satellite clinics and three physical therapy clinics across Todd, Wadena and Otter Tail counties. Satellite clinic locations include Henning, Bertha, Ottertail, Sebeka, Verndale and Baxter. Visit TCHC.org.