DAVENPORT, Iowa — Different health risks come up as you age, but not everyone knows what to screen for and when — especially if the people around you don't talk about their health.
But when people in your community lead by example, others are sure to follow.
That's why Quad Cities organizations held a Black men's health event, featuring UnityPoint Health, Gilda's Club of the Quad Cities, Focus on Diabetes and ASWAS Inc.
Guests could receive free colon cancer screening kits, blood pressure screening, diabetes screening and diet advice.
Sherwin Q. Robinson, Sr. owns barber shop 4 Sher Cut & Style. He works with UnityPoint to change the status quo surrounding Black men's health.
"We're here today to put on a health program to bring about the familiarity of going to the hospital, talking to your doctors," Robinson said. "Then sharing that not only with yourself or not sharing it just with your customers in the barber shop, sharing it with your family, sharing it with your kids."
Robinson and two other Davenport barbers, Bobby Williams of Devine Creations and Johnny Tensley of A-1 Barber & Cosmetology, brought the communal space of a barber shop to the event. Robinson said he uses barber shop conversations to bring up necessary health screenings.
"We're starting to talk about being healthy," Robinson said. "We're starting to talk about getting tests done — colon cancer prostate tests. I've had a couple of them. And I share that with my clients."
Michael Cribbs, the outreach director at the Davenport YMCA and a youth minister, was emceeing the event. He said men in his community need to know what health risks they should look for as they age.
"I think one of the biggest ones is prostate cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure," Robinson said. "I recently had surgery on my prostate about a year ago. So I feel like the education is needed for our community, because we're just not aware of what can happen and what's going on."
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