Shave, haircut and health checkup

By Gerry Smith | Tribune reporter

May 11, 2008

Seated under a barbershop bib with an electric razor buzzing in his ear, Kevin Hoard explained why he's an example of the health-care questions facing the black community.

Although he was concerned that his high blood pressure could lead to other health problems, Hoard acknowledged that he rarely saw a doctor.

"We know that most black people don't go to the hospital anyway, me included," said Hoard, 45, who was getting a haircut at the Harper Avenue Barber Shop, 1524 E. 87th St. on Chicago's South Side.

On Saturday, Hoard was among dozens of black men who participated in the first day of a new health-care program aimed at reaching them at a popular social venue: the local barbershop.

The program, launched by the Illinois Department of Human Services, is designed to address diabetes and other health-care disparities in the black community. The free screenings tested for diabetes and hypertension by checking blood-glucose and blood-pressure levels.

To get the word out, state officials enlisted Otis Wilson, a member of the 1985 Super Bowl champion Bears and several retired basketball legends, including Bulls legend Bob Love.

In Illinois, more than a quarter of all diabetes cases are among non-Hispanic blacks, according to the Diabetic Amputation Prevention Foundation. Nationwide, 40 percent of African-American men died prematurely of cardiovascular disease, compared with 21 percent of white men.

At the Washington Heights Barber Shop, at 859 W. 103rd St., the chairs were filled with men chatting and getting last-minute haircuts before Mother's Day. In the corner, Ethel Walton, a registered nurse, was testing the blood pressure of 80-year-old Clyde Bryant.

"Relax a bit, take a couple of deep breaths," said Walton, a member of the Chicago chapter of the Black Nurses Association.

Walton noted that many black men don't go to the doctor, but they always go to the barber shop.

"The idea is if they're not going to come to us, we'll go to them and reach them where they already are."

gfsmith@tribune.com