CUMBERLAND COUNTY, N.C. — Barbershops are not just a place to go get your haircut. They can also be a place for barbers to have meaningful conversations with their clients.

The American Heart Association is collaborating with barbershops and beauty salons in the Triad to train staff in identifying heart attack and stroke symptoms and promoting healthy habits to clients.

A new pilot program in Cumberland County, called Healthy Conversations, is also starting these types of conversations. 

What You Need To Know

  • Healthy Conversations is a pilot program in Cumberland County that builds awareness of certain health conditions
  • The UNC School of Medicine said in Cumberland County, the rate of new prostate cancer cases is 134 per 100,000 men
  • The program trains barbers and stylists to be health advocates, influencing their clients to participate in smart health behaviors
  • Stylist Hasani Hines, a member of the program, said it helps both barbers and their clients

Barbers and stylists, about ten of them in all who are taking part in the program, are trained to evoke positive health behaviors, like getting screened and tested.

Hasani Hines said she’s been doing hair for 25 years. And it runs in her family, with her parents also in hair industry.

“I love to see the outcome of what my clients look like, I like to see the smiling faces, I like to see what I can create,” Hines said.

Another thing she loves is being able to give her clients a safe space to discuss anything.

“Sometimes you have the parents that want you to be able to talk to their kids because they can’t get through to them; and it’s like being a community leader you have to connect with your clients, so they feel comfortable with you,” Hines explained.

She added that being a part of Healthy Conversations allows her to take those conversations even further when warranted.

The Cumberland County Health Department also supplies pamphlets and a machine so clients can take their blood pressure as part of the program.

The Healthy Conversations program teaches awareness of prostate cancer, chronic diseases and contributing behaviors, sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and mental health.

This is an initiative that Hines said is important to not only educate her clients, but barbers and stylists as well.

“I just think it’s very important, especially in the Black community, because health insurance is expensive, and all that so people don’t go get checkups, they don’t get it because of the expense,” Hines said. “I’ve had a customer pass out in my chair and we didn’t have the tools or the knowledge at the time to talk to him about it or whatever, so this is a good thing the health department has started.”

Carlotta Winston, a Cumberland County Public Health educator, who runs the Healthy Conversations program, said some people have barriers to access care or there is a stigma around going to see a doctor.

“When you look at prostate cancer in Cumberland County, colorectal cancer, as well as heart health in our county compared to the state, you will find that Cumberland County does have a higher health ranking of prostate cancer and deaths due to prostate cancer, especially in the African American men,” Winston said. “When you look at colorectal cancer and heart health in general, our county is pretty high in those numbers as well.”

The UNC School of Medicine said in Cumberland County, the rate of new prostate cancer cases is 134 per 100,000 men. This is higher than the state average of 124 cases per 100,000 men. Meanwhile, the overall prostate cancer death rate in the county is 20 per 100,000 men.

Healthy Conversations is a three-year pilot program. The Health Department is hoping it can sustain the program for years to come.