An ambulance crew hope their “silly” moustaches will “encourage people to open up” about their mental health past “Movember” while they attempt to virtually row the Atlantic.
The team of 12 from the Guildford and Chertsey 999 need to row a total of 4,720km, which equates to roughly 157km a day.
Sam Leroy, a paramedic from the team, read a book by Ben Fogle and James Cracknell who rowed the Atlantic and joked “that sounds relatively easy”, which sparked the idea for the virtual row.
To generate more conversations, the team have grown moustaches to mark Movember, an annual event involving the growing of moustaches during the month of November to raise awareness of men’s health issues.
“That moustache sort of generates that conversation with people as you have people asking ‘why are you all growing that’ to encourage people to open up”, the 28-year-old told the PA news agency.
Samuel Garman, 31, an operations manager, added: “I think having the moustache for a lot of us, especially me, does look a bit silly, but it shows people that you are willing to look silly for something you are passionate about.
“We’re willing to row two hours a day – which is absolutely awful and is often after 12-hour shifts – to start that conversation about why we’re doing it and to highlight the importance of men’s mental health.”
“I think some of us are still very grateful that face masks are still required at some hospitals”, Stan Devlin, a 27-year-old paramedic, joked.
Mr Leroy added that mental health in the ambulance service is something that is “quite at the top of people’s minds”
“It’s a job that leaves you way more open to getting post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) – so it’s something we also wanted to generate more conversation in the station about.”
Mr Leroy has a personal reason for his involvement in Movember over the past six years.
“I lost two of my school friends to suicide and I came very close to losing one of my best friends to suicide”, he said.
“We wish we’d been able to pick up on the signs and sit and have that conversation with them and Movember is really good at promoting the importance of having conversations.”
The challenge has helped to create an inclusive atmosphere among the team.
Fellow paramedic Oli Razzell, 28, told PA that the “highlight” has been that everyone on the team is “going through the challenge together and struggling through it together.”
“It’s also not just when your teammates join in, it’s when friends who are also at the same gym might see you there and they hop on and ride,” added Mr Devlin.
“It may be for 10 minutes but it’s 10 minutes of company and that has been really nice. It’s been really lovely to see the support.”
So far, the team has raised over £3,500 out of their £5,500 target and has been thankful for the support, not just from people donating, but also from people encouraging them as the challenge continues.
“Nuffield – the gym where most of us have been rowing – has been really supportive,” Mr Leroy said.
“They’ve given some people free passes, shared stuff on their social media and a lot of positive comments have come out of that.
“And it is all helping to start that conversation about Movember – about what the charity does, the projects that they’re helping with and it is often quite fulfilling.”
The biggest aim the group hope to achieve is “removing the stigma” of talking about mental health and they would like this to extend past November.
“There are lot of demographics of men that won’t speak about their feelings and Movember specifically target them and we want to help encourage that conversation through our challenge,” Mr Leroy said.
“We work as paramedics, so we’re quite used to coming into people’s homes and are pretty confident at having difficult conversations but being able to do that with your friend is something different.”
Mr Razzell also highlighted the importance of reaching out to friends that you may have not seen or spoken to in a while.
“Let them know they are not alone,” he said.
Mr Garman added: “We hope that the power of exercise and doing the challenge and coming together as a group of men sends out a strong message that if you are struggling with your mental health, there is help out there – your GP, your family and friends or exercise, which can all transform your life.”
The team’s progress can be tracked on this site, which was created by colleague Laurence Summers: https://www.movember999.com/?i=1
