A shave and a hair cut -- and a diabetes and hypertension screening -- ten cents.
State Rep. Bruce Morris, D-140, wants local black-owned barber shops to participate in an initiative to provide free diabetes and hypertension screenings to black men.
Morris learned of the initiative during a presentation by Dr. William Releford, founder of the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program. Releford spoke before the National Black Caucus of State Legislators' annual conference Thursday in Washington, D.C.
"Most African Americans I know have high blood pressure," Morris said. "Through the infrastructure of black-owned barber shops, volunteers provide screenings at no cost whatsoever and refer those with abnormal findings."
Morris, himself diagnosed with hypoglycemia during his first year in office, knows off the top of his head the statistics describing the dangerous susceptibility of black men to diabetes and heart disease.
"Black men live on average 7.1 years less than men of other races," Morris said. "Forty percent of black men die prematurely, compared to 20 percent of white men."
Morris said there were many economic and cultural reasons that made the service model ideal for black men. A lack of health insurance and affordable options were already holding many back from going to the doctor's office, he said. Also, the barber shop setting is already a comfortable and familiar one that most black men already frequent.
"In general there's a fear of going to the doctor. It can be intimidating, and it's a gender thing," Morris said. "Men can be kind of macho and, because of that, choose to go to the doctor less, but even more so in the black community."
Started in California, the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program is currently active in seven states and the Virgin Islands.
"I would like to see it happen in the spring," Morris said. "But I don't have a definite timeline yet."
State Rep. Don Clemmons, D-124, also attended the presentation and was interested in spreading the initiative to his district.
source: The Hour
Web:
http://www.blackbarbershop.org/
Posted By: Bernadette Smith, HHC
Monday, January 12th 2009 at 11:23AM
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