Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 03, 2012
Barbershops in Los Angeles County have joined forces with the Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program (BBHOP) to conduct diabetes and high blood pressure screenings on Saturday, May 12th, 2012, from 11am to 4pm.
Participating barbershops will provide the platform for volunteers to educate, screen and refer African American patrons; encouraging them to become more aware of cardiovascular diseases and how to prevent them.
The Black Barbershop Health Outreach Program has a unique, grassroots approach to health screening and education. Led by Dr. Bill J. Releford, D.P.M., founder of The Diabetic Amputation Prevention (DAP) Foundation, his leadership has taken the Black Barbershop initiative across the country to impact the lives of African American men, helping them to better understand the health issues that plague their community.
“The need to address health care disparities in African American men is paramount in light of the fact that they have the lowest life expectancy of any group in the U.S.,” said Dr. Releford a podiatric surgeon. “For decades, the black barbershop has served as a centralized gathering place where African American men feel comfortable discussing the most important issues that impact their lives: politics, social trends, family and finances. Now, we are introducing an important discussion of health and the critical need for health awareness.”
Recent figures show African American men are 30% more likely to die from heart disease than White men, according to the Office of Minority Health – an arm of Health and Human Services, a federal agency. Also, African American men suffer from prostrate cancer at a level that?s more than twice the mortality rate for any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S., according to the CDC.
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