A Trip to the Barbershop Could Save Your Life!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 2005
Contact
Dave Remmert, MPH, CHES Director, Community Health Surveillance, Planning & Education
217-531-2921
Diana Yates, Communications Coordinator
217-531-4275
A Trip to the Barbershop Could Save Your Life!
Health Providers Team up With Rose & Taylor Barbershop To Offer Free Prostate Cancer Screenings and Haircuts
Champaign, IL – The Champaign-Urbana Public Health District, the Champaign County Christian Health Center and Rose & Taylor Barbershop in Champaign will again offer free prostate cancer screenings and haircuts this Saturday, March 19. This is the second such event this year. At the February event, 27 men showed up at the barbershop to get free blood tests for prostate cancer and free haircuts.
Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, Director of the Illinois Department of Public Health, pioneered the idea of offering health screenings at barbershops five years ago when he was trying find a way to bring health services to African American men in a venue they would trust. African American men often put off getting screened for prostate cancer longer than their white counterparts, and African American men have higher prostate cancer mortality rates than any other group. According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, prostate cancer death rates were about 2.5 times higher among black men in 2000 compared with white men.
Any man over age 40 who comes to Rose & Taylor from 9 – 11:30 a.m. for a free prostate blood screening will also get a free haircut, compliments of the barbershop. Rose & Taylor is located at 124 North 1st Street, in Champaign.
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