An Unconventional Form of Preventative Healthcare
Zac Schultz:
We turn now to a new and unconventional way of thinking about where we might go for preventive healthcare, a barber shop. Marisa Wojcik brings us this story about an innovative model of healthcare that’s on the cutting edge.
Aaron Perry:
I had this idea when I used to come and get my hair cut of course when I had hair. I would come over to the barber shop and I would hear guys just talking about all types of health problems. They would get that beautiful haircut and walk right out the door and just over a period of years hearing this and then hearing what the medical community was saying about we can’t reach Black men.
Marisa Wojcik:
Having made his own health a priority after finding out he was diabetic, Aaron Perry was familiar with the stats. Even with today’s medical advancements one question resounded in his mind.
Aaron Perry:
Why can’t we figure out how to keep Black men alive longer than 51 years of age?
Jasmine Zapata:
We’re seeing Black men with increasingly higher rates of cancer, lung disease, diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure and other things that threaten their quality and their length of life.
Marisa Wojcik:
Dr. Jasmine Zapata is the chief medical officer and state epidemiologist for community health promotion at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, a long title for what she calls…
Jasmine Zapata:
A disease detective.
Marisa Wojcik:
When it comes to impacting long-term health issues…
Jasmine Zapata:
Prevention is key. Instead of waiting until after a problem comes up and then going to the doctor to work on fixing it, we need to do everything that we can to reach people where they’re at.
Marisa Wojcik:
Aaron had an idea about that.
Aaron Perry:
Why don’t we bring the medical community to the barber shop? It just made sense.
Marisa Wojcik:
This simple solution to address a complex problem had never been done before.
Aaron Perry:
So I pitched that idea to Jeff Patterson, the owner.
Marisa Wojcik:
His barber when he had hair.
Jeff Patterson:
He was a customer here so he knew what kind of business we ran and his presentation was outstanding. It was a no-brainer.
Marisa Wojcik:
Within months the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association, the first ever men’s health center of its kind opened attached to the JP Hair Design barber shop in Madison.
Aaron Perry:
We do blood pressure screenings. We do flu shots. We do diabetes testing. We do glucose testing. We do cholesterol testing and it’s always going to be free as long as I’m alive, you know? When we started we had to convince the guys to do this. Now it’s just like second nature.
Marisa Wojcik:
But there is something else the barber shop provides that makes this model so successful.
Jeff Patterson:
It’s a trust thing. I think barbers have a good persuasion over their clients cuz there’s trust between the client and barber.
Jasmine Zapata:
When we talk about trust, it is not just credentials. Building trust in relationships when you are making important healthcare decisions for yourself and your family members, you need to know that person is reliable. You need to be in a safe space.
Marisa Wojcik:
The barbers take that responsibility seriously especially when it comes to the pandemic and helping distribute the COVID-19 vaccine.
Jeff Patterson:
I always tell the barbers here we need to be careful what we say because our clients believe in us.
Jasmine Zapata:
Social connectivity is so important and also in many of these spaces you’re not alone.
Aaron Perry:
The barbers, you know, they just know everything about all of their clientele.
Man # 1:
Marriage, kids, work problems, working out, everything.
Man # 2:
There’s just always a place of peace when you come here.
Marisa Wojcik:
For people of color trust in health outcomes are rooted in factors beyond the medical field.
Jasmine Zapata:
Structural racism contributes directly to unequal access to wealth, housing, food and healthcare. All these things have a profound impact on how long people live and how healthy they are.
Marisa Wojcik:
They span generations.
Jasmine Zapata:
We’re still feeling the ripple effects of many things that happened hundreds of years ago in our communities. In that setting that has had an impact on people’s actual biology.
Marisa Wojcik:
Setting an example for the next generation is embedded in this family setting.
Jeff Patterson:
The crazy thing is they start off in booster chairs and then the parents bring them. And they get a little older and then they start coming in themselves.
Marisa Wojcik:
The health education centers have expanded to two more barber shops in Dane County: Resilient Hair Design and The Be Right Barber Shop in Sun Prairie, which had its grand opening Thursday and included student nurses from Edgewood College to do health screenings.
Man # 3:
I come in usually every two weeks, every other week, me and my son to get our hair cut.
Man # 4:
I’ve always wanted to see my blood pressure, to get my blood pressure to make sure my health is good.
Barber:
I know a lot of things about people nobody else knows. Now if I learn something here, I can just quietly tell them go back there and check it out.
Marisa Wojcik:
Aaron is still setting his sights higher hoping to open centers in other states and become the nation’s first federally-qualified health center in a barber shop.
Aaron Perry:
We’re making this a priority because we don’t have the luxury of waiting.
Marisa Wojcik:
For “Here & Now,” I’m Marisa Wojcik in Madison.
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