On the first Saturday of every month, customers at two neighborhood barbershops in Columbus are offered services beyond their usual haircut.

As a way of reaching the black community, The American Heart Association Columbus Chapter’s Barbershop Blood Pressure Screening program visits area barbershops to offer heart-related health testing to people who might otherwise not seek out or have access to such potentially life-saving tests.

According to the American Heart Association, about 37 percent of black men and women suffer from high blood pressure, which is more than any other ethnic group. In fact, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of adults of any ethnicity in the United States.

During the month of February, which is American Heart Month as well as Black History Month, the American Heart Association is encouraging blacks around the country to learn about their risks for heart disease and what they can do to reduce those risks.

The idea to have these screenings at local barbershops was born out of the need to reach members of the community who were at the greatest risk of having or developing heart disease, said Jill Shaw, the cultural health initiative manager of the Columbus chapter of the AHA.

“(Black) men are less likely to go to the doctor. So we thought ‘where do men congregate?’…the barbershop,” Shaw said. “You always have to get your hair cut.”

But the program helps more than just men. Women are encouraged to participate as well.

“A lot of times when mothers are there with their kids, they get screenings at the same time,” Shaw said.

The program also provides fruit and other heart-healthy snacks while the screenings are going on.

Though, participants have to be 18 years-old or older to be screened, Shaw said children can benefit from the program as well, by learning about healthy snacking with the “nutritious nibbles” they enjoy while the adults are tested.

The medical tests are conducted by volunteers from the Ohio State University chapters of Chi Eta Phi, a black nursing sorority, and the National Black Medical Students Association. The program is completely privately funded.

The screenings are offered on the first Saturday of every month. Each location has four to five volunteers who see 25 to 30 people during the two-hour period.

The program offers a full Stroke Risk Assessment Profile, which includes a blood pressure test, taking medical histories and education on heart-related health.

The volunteers also talk to the participants about risk factors for heart disease and stroke. They offer information about factors a person can control, such as diet and exercise, and those things they cannot control like family history.

The program sends informational sheets home with the people they screen to encourage them to make heart health a part of their daily lives.

The program, which began in Columbus in 1999, is currently offered at “Brothers Barbershop” in the Linden area in the northend of town and “A Cut Above,” near Mount Vernon Avenue on the eastside. It has been offered at other barbershops throughout the city at different times throughout those four years.

Shaw said the program has screened thousands of people since its inception.

According to Shaw, more than 600 people were screened through the program in the last year alone. Though she said it would be nice to expand the program to more than just the two locations, right now it is only offered at two barbershops to remain consistant and to avoid overstretching resources.

The program relies on the generosity of private funders for its equipment and volunteers for its personnel. By keeping the program at two shops at a time, they can ensure they have enough people to see the customers and that the volunteers have enough supplies to perform their tasks.

“We make sure that we don’t let the community down,” she said.

Al Edmondson, owner of A Cut Above, one of the shops participating in the program, said he has heard positive feedback from his customers about the program.

“It has been helpful to a lot of people in the community,” Edmondson said.

Edmondson said some people make their appointments with the barbershop to coincide with the days the screenings are offered, but others have come into the shop to be tested just because they saw the sign advertising the screenings in the shop window.

The Barbershop program is just one of many of the outreach programs the Columbus chapter of the American Heart Association offers.