Last week, the hypertension center at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angels announced that they have been awarded an $8.5 million grant to help African American barbers join in the fight against hypertension.
According to the Cedar-Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Ronald G. Victor, the head of the Cedar-Sinai Hypertension Center, published a study in 2011showing that barber shop-based outreach could save hundreds of lives.
According to Dr. Victor, “Uncontrolled hypertension is one of the biggest health problems facing the African-American community today.” Dr. Victor continues, “Hypertension is called the silent killer because there are no symptoms. We need to find a way to reach out to the community and prevent the serious complications caused by high blood pressure because all too often, by the time a patient finds out they have the condition, the heart and kidneys already have been damaged.”
Hypertension is a major issue in the Black community and this grant money will hopefully help fight this epidemic. “We hope that the new trial’s outcomes will show an even greater benefit while lowering the cost of providing high-quality healthcare for hypertension in a high-risk population,” Dr. Victor said.