Men have higher morbidity rates in almost every one of the leading causes of death in the United States, a factor leading to a renewed focus on men's health issues.

Since 1994, June has been designated Men's Health Month, part of a congressional health education program to draw attention to the higher morbidity rates among males. 

Some of the problem stems from basic machismo, a sense that men don't need to see a physician until something is noticeably wrong. 

"Men are less likely to go to the doctor for many reasons," said Dr. Mike McMullan, director of UMMC's adult congenital heart program and professor of cardiology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. "Many of them seem to feel that it's a sign of weakness, and obviously they do not want to be perceived as weak.

"They feel that likely nothing is wrong and they would feel silly if they went to the doctor and were told that they were fine."

Ambulances traditionally pull up to the front of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Holmes County - but now, they're circling to temporary headquarters on the back side. 

That's because the gutted Emergency Department is being rebuilt from the ground up on the hospital's south side. That construction competes with the sound of hammering and sawing as former first-floor offices are converted into patient rehabilitative services, including occupational therapy, speech-language programs, and the county's only physical therapy services.

It's all part of a $4 million renovation of the 25-bed facility in Lexington, originally built in 1950 as Holmes County Community Hospital, that's providing care to a growing number of residents from the Holmes County region north to Grenada. 

And, the transformation couldn't come soon enough, said chief executive officer David Putt. 

Since April 2014, "admissions are up by 32 percent, and traffic in our Emergency Department is up 15 percent," said Putt, who also serves as CEO of UMMC Grenada. Radiology services are up 11 percent and clinic visits 10 percent over last year, he said. The hospital this year anticipates about 500 admissions and 9,000 patient encounters of all kinds.

Just call Dr. Mart McMullan a "fixer." 

Since becoming senior advisor to the University of Mississippi Medical Center vice chancellor during Dr. Dan Jones' tenure, McMullan has been tasked with turning around areas that need improvement or even a makeover. That has ranged from jump-starting the pediatric congenital heart program to enticing top physicians to join the Medical Center's staff. 

McMullan, who retires at the end of June, has used his decades in private practice and vast people skills to craft solutions that make the Medical Center a better place for patients and employees alike. Since 2005, he's had the ear - and the trust - of department chairs and faculty that allowed him to "push the right buttons to help people," said his UMMC School of Medicine classmate, former vice chancellor Dr. James Keeton. 

"He would come to me and tell me things when there was no way I could have known that," said Keeton, who served as Jones' chief of staff before succeeding him as vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of the School of Medicine in 2010.

For those who are in urgent need of blood - and have to depend on others to provide it - the path to recovery can seem like a long road, indeed.

Fortunately, Medical Center faculty, staff and students will have an opportunity this week to help brighten that pathway.      

Mississippi Blood Services will host its "Road to Life" blood drive, the fourth and final of the Medical Center's quarterly drives for FY 2014-15, June 15-19 at several UMMC locations.

All donors will be registered for a chance to win a 2015 Chrysler 200 automobile and will receive an MBS "Road to Life" T-shirt. Identification is required to donate blood.

Times, dates and places for the drive include:

* 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, June 15-16, in the donor coach between the Guyton Research Center and the School of Medicine building;

* 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at the Central Billing Office in Clinton;

* 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, in the donor coach near the Bailey Avenue entrance to the Jackson Medical Mall Thad Cochran Center;

* 1-4 p.m. Wednesday, June 17, at Select Specialty Hospital on Ridgewood Road;

* 7:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday, June 18, in the donor coach at the entrance to Batson Children's Hospital; and

* 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Friday, June 19, in the donor coach at the University Hospital entrance.

For more information about the blood drive, call Renee Howard at 4-2884 or send her an email at rhoward@umc.edu.

A number of interesting events is scheduled for the upcoming week at the Medical Center.

UMMC's chief health information officer is tagged with an all-star label while the Mississippi Cancer Registry receives not one, but two national recognitions this month.