I'll have the usual: a haircut and a health check up

A man gets a haircut at Denny Moe's barbershop.

NEW YORK // At Denny Moe's Superstar Barbershop, you can listen to some live music, check your blood pressure and sign up for a day trip out of the city. Or you can simply get a haircut. Dennis Mitchell, whose nickname is Denny Moe, founded his barber shop three years ago not just to help people look good but to serve as a focal point in his part of the historically African-American neighbourhood of Harlem. He has 12 barbers working in a shop on Frederick Douglass Boulevard, named after the 19th century former slave and reformer. On the walls hang photographs of black baseball players from the time of racial segregation and pictures of prominent African-Americans, including Colin Powell, the former secretary of state, and Marshall Thurgood, the first black Supreme Court justice. "It's all for the community because I want people to learn something when they come in here," said Mr Mitchell. "There's standing room only in here on a Friday and Saturday but I don't want to move to a bigger place. I want to keep the intimacy so people talk to each other." His emphasis on family and community echoes the principles of Barack Obama, the first African-American president, who has urged all Americans to volunteer and do what they can, no matter how small, to make a difference. Mr Mitchell's most passionate cause, however, is persuading reluctant black men to get regular health screening. As a group, they have higher blood pressure than whites while prostate cancer is a leading cause of cancer death, but too few of them ever get check-ups. "Men have a macho thing and are much more likely to look after their families than themselves," said Mr Mitchell, who is 43, has been married for 22 years and has four children. "As men, we take care of our people but we've got to take care of ourselves to do that." He has a personal stake in spreading the word. Cancer claimed his father and countless other relatives. His 19-year-old cousin was on his death bed in hospital after doctors failed to diagnose a lump on his knee as malignant. "He'd had an accident and the doctors kept telling him the lump would go away but it didn't. The cancer has spread all over his body and all they can do is try to make him comfortable," said Mr Mitchell. "He told his mother this week that he wished he could something to make things easier for her and that just tore me up." He was reluctant to blame racism as the cause of the doctors' failure to find the cancer early on. "I don't like to say everything is racial. It could be economics. The way they treat people if they don't have insurance, it's a sad situation," he said. "You can work all your life but if you have the wrong insurance, you get nothing. But you can be on welfare and get everything for free." He hopes to organise another health fair following the success of one last year at which people were offered free screening for blood pressure and diabetes. When chatting with customers as he cuts their hair, he drives home the message that check-ups are vital for everyone. There are similar programmes in Los Angeles, Baltimore and St Louis, where health workers are going to barbershops to provide screening and other health checks to those who pay not be able to afford regular check-ups or because of a distrust in the medical establishment. Mr Obama has promised health care reform with the aim of extending coverage to the more than 45 million people without insurance. Even routine visits to the doctor can cost at least US$125 (Dh458) and many people simply cannot afford it. Black unemployment has been double the rate for whites since at least the early 1970s, when the government started to collate figures for different racial groups. The gap is worsening. Under the current recession which started officially in Dec 2007, black unemployment has risen to 13.4 per cent while among whites it is 7.3 per cent, according to the labour statistics bureau. A recent report by the Centre for Social Inclusion said the recession was adding to the burden borne by minorities. "There also are all sorts of health-related issues connected with that," said Maya Wiley, the centre's director. "We could see higher rates of everything, from homicides to tuberculosis." Aaric White, one of the barbers who works at Denny Moe's, said he organised health insurance for himself with the help of one his clients. "Most of the people I know aren't covered. There is some free health coverage out there but so many guys don't like to apply themselves to it until it's too late," said Mr White, who is 36. "There's no valid excuse for it and I don't understand." He was proud of the barbershop's outreach efforts and said Mr Mitchell encouraged them all to come up with ideas for events. "We have nights of comedy, poetry and music. We cut hair while people enjoy the entertainments," he said. "It's great!" [e-mail]