02 Apr Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association and local Black barbershops join forces to vaccinate Black men

Posted at 10:54h in COVID-19, Health, Health Equity, Madison by

By David Dahmer, Madison365

African-Amerian men and communities in Madison and across the United States are continuing to have trouble accessing appointments for the COVID-19 vaccine shots.

With that in mind, the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association’s Men’s Clinic will provide vaccines for Black males on Tuesday, April 6, noon-3 p.m. Fitchburg Family Pharmacy will offer the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for individuals 18 and over, which is a one-shot vaccine and the men will not have to return for another shot. The Pfizer vaccine will be available for those 16 years of age and older.

At the Men’s Health and Education Center, located on the west side of Madison inside JP Hair Design, Madison’s largest Black barbershop, the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association provides important health information and resources to men and offers vital health services like blood-pressure screening, diabetes monitoring and flu shots. Aaron Perry is a community health advocate for African American men and the founder of Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association.

“We have been very actively campaigning to various health systems in Madison and Dane County to become a vaccination site mainly because of all the surveys we’ve done and we know that the Black male clientele at the Black barbershops that we work with have expressed a strong intention of getting the vaccine,” Perry tells Madison365. “When we first started talking to the men, there was not a lot of distrust that we were hearing; we were hearing more and more that guys were just paranoid with the process.”

The Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association decided to counter that by providing real clear, honest information about the process. Read more …

On the Web: Learn more about the important role of Black barbershops in advancing Black men’s health in the community by checking out our webinar featuring Aaron Perry of the Rebalanced-Life Wellness Association and Jeff “JP” Patterson of JP Hair Design: