Aug. 27--FORT LAUDERDALE --
Lester Jones, head barber at the Neighborhood Unisex Salon on Sistrunk Boulevard, thinks the barbershop is a perfect place for black men and women to discuss their health.
"It's better than the golf course," Jones said. "You can only get two in a cart. This is a relaxed place, an open place, to talk about it."
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D- Miramar, wants to take that idea and use it to maybe get some folks to the doctor. Last month, he sponsored a resolution supporting the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program, founded three years ago to educate African-Americans about the importance of health screening.
On Saturday, the Florida initiative comes to 16 South Florida barbershops and beauty salons for the first time. The outreach includes shops in Fort Lauderdale, Tamarac and Deerfield Beach, and in Palm Beach County, West Palm Beach and Lake Park.
"The black barbershop is an institution in the African-American community, providing a trusted and familiar place for many black men to receive health information and services that they would otherwise not have access to," said Hastings.
Black men and women suffer from a disproportionate share of ailments, many of which can lead to early graves if left unchecked. Some are preventable, experts say, if only black men, in particular, would go to the doctor for regular check-ups before they feel pain or see blood.
"It's hard to get them to go," said Jones, the barber whose shop is one of the screening sites on Saturday. "The economy won't let them go. They only go when something has happened. They'll take grandma's remedy before they'll go to the doctor for a prescription."
In 2007, the Diabetic Amputation Prevention (DAP) Foundation launched the outreach program to increase public awareness of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hypertension by partnering with black-owned barbershops and salons, as well as local leaders, facilities and organizations. The goal is to provide culturally specific education and health services to black men and women.
The program provides free diabetes and high-blood pressure screenings by medical professionals. There will be educational materials about exercise, fitness, obesity, and prostate and breast cancer, as well as a medical resource guide.
For the next several years, the program will travel throughout the United States, with one of its goals screening 500,000 African-American men for diabetes by the year 2012.
"The reception has been tremendous," said Velda White, program spokeswoman. "One man said we saved his life. He had no idea [how sick he was]."
Many of the participants do not take their prescribed medicine regularly, she said.
"But we are not just diagnosing," White added. "We provide a list of clinics, too."
To date, the program has screened about 15,000 men and women in 230 black-owned barbershops and salons across the country. The goal this year, as the gains momentum, is screening 20,000 people.
Hastings, who will visit the Neighborhood Unisex Salon at noon Saturday, signed on because he wants to address the health care disparities affecting African-American and men and women.
"The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program empowers individuals to take control of their health and to become informed health advocates in their communities," said Hastings.
One of the participating salons is All-Dolled-Up in West Palm Beach. The salon's owner, Lisette Webster, does not get many men in her shop. But she is married and she has observed how black men tend to avoid doctors.
"They won't go to a doctor unless it is life and death," said Webster. "The whole thought of a man touching them ... It's a pride thing for a lot of men. It's macho."
Webster believes her customers will respond well to the outreach program.
"Most often women who come here are professional women who are into taking care of their bodies, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically," she said. "Unlike men, women get their blood pressure checked."
Gregory Lewis can be reached at glewis@SunSentinel.com or 954-572-2084.
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