Barber hoping to break through health disparities one cut at a time

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Wavery Willis is more than just a barber. When clients sit down in his chair for a haircut he’s not only focused on their look, but he also takes the time to check in on their health.

" I noticed myself losing clients and when I would run into a wife or a daughter or son or someone at the grocery or cleaners or something. I would ask them what happened to Joe? They would tell me that you know he passed away because he had hypertension," explained Waverly Willis.

The well-known and respected Urban Kutz Barbershop owner started offering free blood pressure screenings inside his shops several years ago.

Willis founded the Urban Barber Association. It is made up barber shops and hair salons offering educational programs in the Black community.

They now do more than a 1-thousand blood pressure screenings with their clients a month.

" We have people with blood pressure so high we would have to tell them, skip the haircut altogether. Go straight to the emergency room. Guys would always come back and thank me," described Willis.

Sonya Vezmar is the American Heart Association’s V.P. of Community Impact. AHA teamed up with TUBA as part of the Nation of Lifesavers Initiative.

It helps reduce health inequities by empowering the African American community with life-saving skills.

The collaboration gives clients even more resources to follow through with a doctor.

" It’s a safe place to have a conversation but also learn more about why it’s important to understand our blood pressure numbers and specifically, how it affects our community, the Black community. If they don’t have a primary care doctor they have relationships with all of the local health clinics and major health systems where they can be referred to those individuals to help learn more about what they should do for next steps for managing hypertension," expressed Vezmar.

Willis says having access to self-service blood pressure monitors on hand at more than a dozen shops in the Cleveland area is just the first step in his mission to make healthcare a priority in the community.

" I’m grateful for the relationship of the American Heart Association

because this program is literally saving lives," stated Willis.