Tennessee Barbershop Partners With Vanderbilt to Provide Basic Healthcare Services

Black men, historically, are reluctant to go to the doctor. I mean just speaking for myself I’ve only recently been proactive about going to get checkups and all that good stuff. Instead of waiting for us to come to them, doctors at Vanderbilt University Medical Center have taken the initiative to come to us.

WSMV 4 reports that doctors at Vanderbilt have partnered with Masters Barber Shop in Nashville to help provide basic care for its patrons. Pharmacist Jarod Parish is now based in the shop to take the blood pressure of patrons, explain the results and will prescribe medication when needed. “I’m also here to be a sounding board for healthcare in general,” said Parish.

Getting basic care can help prevent things like heart attacks, strokes and kidney failure. The goal of this study is to create ease of access to healthcare by meeting people where they are. Parish went on to add, “If you just help one person with their blood pressure, you’re saving one life. That means everything.” Should the study prove successful, the program will expand to more barbershops and the hope is to add tests for high cholesterol and diabetes to the services they provide.

This is honestly a really cool way to help keep people healthy. By meeting folks where they’re already at, it limits the excuses a person has for not attending to their basic health needs. Many ailments can be fixable but you have to know what they are in order to fix them. Hopefully, we’ll see more programs like this launched nationwide. I want to see us all thriving and in good health.