Health Report.A neighborhood barbershopmight seem to some Americanslike a thing of the past.Today men often get their hair cutat the same salons as women.But the traditional barbershopstill holds a special placein black culture.A barbershop is a place of trustwhere men can talk about thingsthey might not want women to hear.This is why black-ownedbarbershops increasingly offermore than just a haircut.Men also receive health educationand testing that could save their life.Right now a program calledthe Black Barbershop HealthOutreach Program is travelingto fifty citiesacross the United States.A doctor started the programin California in two thousand seven.It tests men for diabetes,high blood pressureand other conditions,and provides informationabout how to stay healthy.Black men are three timesmore likely than white menin the United States to diefrom high blood pressure,also known as hypertension.They are also more likelyto get diabetes.A new study has examinedthe barbershop health-caremodel in Dallas, Texas.The study involved aboutone thousand three hundred customersat seventeen black barbershops.Researchers had the barbersat eight of the shops continueto just give haircuts.The other barbers learnedhow to measure blood pressureand offered it with every haircut.If a customer hada high blood pressure,the barber would intervene.The customer would be urgedto see a doctor.If the man did not have a doctor,then a visit to onewould be set up.Customers who went to a doctorwould get their next haircutfree of charge.The study lasted ten months.All of the menhad their blood pressuretaken at the start.They also received educationalmaterials about hypertension.The study found that bloodpressure rates decreasedat the shops where the barbersintervened and also at thosewhere they did not.But the differencewas in the amount.Twenty percent of the menwho were urged to see a doctorgot their blood pressuredown to a healthy level.So did only eleven percentof the men who just got haircuts.Researchers from the Cedars-SinaiHeart Institutein Los Angeles did the study,reported in the Archivesof Internal Medicine.Doctor Ronald Victor,the study leader, saysbarbers historically were membersof the medical profession.So he thinks it makes a lotof sense for today's barbersto act as "health care extenders"by sharpening their skills.And that's the VOA Special EnglishHealth Report,written by Caty Weaver.You can comments on our reportson our website, 51voa.com.