HEALTH WARNING FOR MEN

Courtesy Leon Kahn

At 49, football coach and health worker Leon Khan thought he was in the prime of his life when he suffered a minor heart attack after a coaching session this month.

Now he has a simple message for Aboriginal men.

“Any Indiginous male, don’t matter how old you are, if you think you got problems or even just for a general check up every couple of months or so, you know, go in and do it, it could save your life,” he said.

Mr Khan said he had often noticed heart murmurs while playing football, and if he had sought help sooner he probably could have avoided the heart attack.

“Being an Indigenous male, we need to actually go into the Aboriginal Medical Services or your hospitals or any health clincs and get your regular checkups,” he said. “Because I know with myself, coming from that background: Indigenous health practitioner. Not many Indigenous males like going into those services, its sort of like a shame job kind of thing”