Vim & Vigor - Summer 2012 - North Mississippi - (Page 54)
BarBershop talk I
Unique program encourages African-American men to get to the doctor for important screenings
nside local barbershops, you expect to see haircuts and shaves, and hear much about sports and politics. But one topic that consistently gets overlooked is health, says Toy McKinney of Tupelo. McKinney owns McKinney’s Hair Fashion in Tupelo and is one of the champions of Barbershop Talk, a program conducted by the North Mississippi Medical Center Cancer Center that promotes prostate and colon cancer screenings in African-American men. Diagnosis and death rates from prostate and colon cancers are higher among African-American men than any other population group. Barbershop Talk uses a common gathering place, the barbershop, as a venue for education on the importance of cancer screenings. Participating barbers are educated on these screenings and given all
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