Pensacola’s Blaze Barbershop partners with clinic to offer free blood pressure checks

PENSACOLA, Fla. — A Pensacola barbershop is now offering a new service for its clients.

Customers at Blaze Barbershop on Brent Lane can get a haircut and a shave — and now they’ also be able to check their blood pressure for free.

It’s all part of a partnership the with Health and Hope Clinic, which is using $100,000 in grant money to help save lives.

“Heart is life,” Blaze owner Jonathan Delevoe said. “I think it’s very important to push health in our community. Some of us don’t go to the doctor when we need to. We don’t know where we’re at as far as health, blood pressure anything like that. So I think it’s important that we know about our health so we can take care of ourselves and have a better quality of life.”

The blood pressure machine has only been in the shop for about a week.

Delevoe says having easy access to this type of care has already helped many of his clients learn more about heart health.

“What Health and Hope Clinic is hoping to do is to raise awareness of hypertension within the African American community and also to be able to provide access to care within Northwest Florida,” said Carla Davis, director of education and outreach with Health and Hope Clinic.

According to the CDC, high blood pressure is more common in non-Hispanic black adults than any other racial background.

55% of black adults have high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association. Age, gender, family history, and chronic kidney disease are other risk factors for hypertension.

“We really want people to know their numbers. An informed consumer is the best consumer,” Davis said.

Blaze Barbershop is the first location to receive a machine from Health and Hope Clinic.

Davis says the clinic hopes to expand this program across Pensacola.

Delevoe says having the machine in his shop has not only helped his clients — but him and his coworkers as well.

“I think as barbers we stand on our feet a lot,” he said. “We don’t have a lot of time to eat and we’ll order fast food or anything to get a quick bite. But now we’re being more conscious, packing lunch, bringing lunch or actually saying, ‘Hey let’s block this lunch time and go have something healthy.'”

Davis says her hope with this program is for citizens to know where their blood pressure regularly stands so its easier to recognize elevated and high blood pressure levels. She says a normal blood pressure for an adult is a systolic below 120 and a diastolic under 80.