Medical advice may be coming to a barbershop near you

It might be one of the last places you'd expect to get health care advice,?in a salon or barber shop.

But that's exactly where you might find it at your next appointment.

The neighborhood barber shop or beauty parlor is more than a place to get your hair cut. It's where you can catch up on the local gossip and ask your beautician to act as a therapist. And that's why a new Tulane study is taking health to 25 local salons and barber shops.

"Can?I ask you this question Mr.?G? Have you ever had your colon checked or anything like that?" asked Mel Sampson, Jr. the shop owner.

"I?never did really,"?answered his customer.

"You?ain't never got colon checked?" Sampson?repeats.?

The Prevention Research Center at Tulane recently trained people, who cut your hair, to remind you about the importance of a healthful lifestyle and getting regular check ups and screenings.

They want to see if clients will be more likely to get checked for diabetes, high blood pressure, use a condom every time, and even exercise and eat more fruits and vegetables when reminded by the barber.

"Now with your heart being weak like that, you don't think that's smoking's?gonna hurt you at any point Mr.G?" Sampson asked another customer.

These brightly illustrated, easy to read booklets are free and give specifics on how to lower sugar and salt in your diet,?how to quit smoking, there are even recipes, healthful recipes. So far Tulane is getting good feedback.

"They love it," said Catherine Haywood, a social worker and?Community Service Coordinator at Tulane.?"They will say 'My customers are really interested in this, they are asking questions, they are taking books home.'?A couple of them have said they've come back and discussed it more, they are exercising more, which is great." ?

Right now the study is targeting neighborhoods where people are most at risk.

"African-American people are more likely to suffer from health disease, about twice as likely as?Caucasian people to develop diabetes. They also have very high rates of hypertension or high blood pressure and are less likely to have that high blood pressure under control," said??

Lisa Hoffman of the?Tulane Prevention Research Center.

"So how is your heart? You still have a defibrillator Mr. G?" Sampson asked.

"I?got a defibrillator, valve, pace maker,?six stents, one by pass on my right leg," answered the customer.?

On this day at Mel's Barber Shop on St. Bernard Avenue,?the talk about health in the chair, later spilled over into the waiting area.

"Go and get your prostate checked," says a women in the waiting area.

"I'm?gonna go get my prostate check, matter of fact, I'm going to come back and tell?ya?I got my prostate checked," calls out Mr. G.

After the study period is over, the Tulane School of Public Health hopes to expand the program throughout the state and create a model so it can be reproduced across the U.S.