CLEVELAND, Ohio — In the African American community, barbershops are spaces where men shoot the breeze, hang with friends and get a trim. Thanks to a new Case Western Reserve University program, it’s where they’ll be able to learn about prostate cancer by year’s end.
In Cuyahoga County, Black men have a disproportionate risk of being diagnosed and dying from prostate cancer as compared to white men. Researchers at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center are addressing this health disparity with a community-based program that will disseminate prostate cancer information in the Black community through barbershops.
CWRU’s Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project received a new $2.75 million, three-year grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation, the university said.
Cancer of the prostate gland — a small, walnut-shaped organ that produces fluid that nourishes and transports sperm — is the second-leading cause of death in American men, behind lung cancer. There will be nearly 250,000 new cases diagnosed n 2021, and about 34,000 deaths, the American Cancer Society estimates.
Prostate cancer can be a serious disease, but most men diagnosed with it don’t die from it. More than 3.1 million American men in the United States today have been diagnosed with prostate cancer at some point, according to the American Cancer Society.
The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project will train community navigators to visit participating barbershops to pave the way for the businesses to host prostate cancer educational events, said prostate cancer project director Erika Trapl. Attendees will be encouraged to get a prostate cancer screening from their regular doctor.
The goal is to increase the number of Black men who are screened for prostate cancer, which is the best way to catch prostate cancer early. Screening tests look for elevated or continuously rising levels of PSA — proteins produced by the prostate gland — that can signal the cancer’s possible presence.
“Our board pushed us to bring the work to locations central to men’s lives, such as barbershops,” said Trapl, who is also director of the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. “From there, the idea has taken off, thanks to the partnership of people living in this community facing these genuine issues. We hope it will become a national model.”
Dr. Erika Trapl, an epidemiologist at Case Western Reserve University's school of medicine, is leading The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project. The initiative will place educational events about prostate cancer in neighborhood barbershops to reach Black men, who are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer.Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com
Urban Kutz Barbershops owner Waverly Willis began encouraging conversations about diet and health years ago, when he realized he was losing clients who refused to go to a doctor until it was too late. “(Men) don’t go to the doctor unless something is falling off,” said Willis, who is a member of the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center Community Advisory Board and executive director of the Urban Barber Association nonprofit group.
Now the conversation in his two Urban Kutz barbershop locations are just as likely to be about veggie recipes and the Keto diet as the Browns and Cavs, he said. Willis wants to get a Clinic mobile unit to visit his barbershops to run prostate cancer screenings as part of the CWRU initiative.
“Barbershops are one of the most trusted institutions in our community,” Willis said. “Cancer affects all of us in some way, shape or fashion. I just want to change the conversation.”
The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project includes several public health agencies, including University Hospitals, the Cleveland Clinic Taussig Cancer, MetroHealth Systems and the Cleveland Institute for Computational Biology.
Community education events in barbershops will start at the end of the year, if it’s safe to hold in-person events by then. Trapl plans to look for additional funding to allow the education and screening program to continue beyond its initial three years.
She hopes the barbershop outreach program will make it more normal for men to discuss the illness. She finds it curious that men wear pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness, even though they are much more likely to get prostate cancer.
“It doesn’t get talked about,” Trapl said about prostate cancer. “I think there is a growing recognition we need to elevate it as a discussion, because as soon as we do that, having that discussion in a barbershop doesn’t seem quite as weird.”
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