LAKELAND, Fla. — Clippers, conversation, and a sense of community are all the things you would expect to find at the barbershop.
“They take a lot of advice from barbers. They talk to us about all walks of life, where they come from, their background, family,” said Bruce Melendez, owner of Phade Phanatix.
What you don't expect to see are men getting a health screening to go along with their haircut.
“The men that come in here, they are very bad at going to the doctor. I was guilty of it myself,” Melendez said.
Lakeland Regional Health’s ShopTalk program brings healthcare professionals to men in places where they feel the most comfortable.
“Data shows us that men go to the doctor way later than women. So, we want to make sure that we're catching things early,” said Lauren Springfield, Director of Community Health for Lakeland Regional Health.
At a handful of barbershops in Lakeland, men can get cholesterol, blood glucose, and blood pressure screenings for free.
“High blood pressure can be a risk for stroke, and often high blood pressure doesn’t have any symptoms at all,” said Dr. Daniel Haight, Vice President of Community Health at Lakeland Regional Health.
The program also focuses on educating men on getting regular exams and signs of disease.
Dr. Haight said encouraging them to take control over their health can help decrease health disparities in the community.
“Segments of our community are finding out too late that they’ve had seriously high blood pressure of very high blood sugars and diabetes,” Haight said. “We want to get those caught early to avoid trips to the emergency room or something that’s really bad, like (a) heart attack or a stroke.”
