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Black men’s health initiatives gain national attention by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations Bill Robinson’s red, black and green caps are helping to save lives in South Carolina. The so-called BAP Caps are a symbol of prostate cancer awareness that is promoted through barber shops across the state.   Robinson started the prostate cancer program in 2000, and now more than 50 barber shops are participating in the Brothers Against Prostrate Cancer Awareness Program (BAP Cap), which is a signature program of the Black Men’s Health Initiative (BMHI).   Through BAP Cap, barbers are trained how to discuss prostate cancer and prevention with their customers. The results have been life-saving and enlightening, said Robinson, an adjunct instructor for MUSC’s Department of Health Administration and Policy.   “Every time we launch a BAP Cap program in a community, we get feedback that the number of black men being screened in those communities increases,” said Robinson, who also heads MUSC’s Partners in Wellness. “This program has helped make black men more informed consumers, and it has saved lives.”   Robinson said that South Carolina’s black male population outranks the nation and most of the world in terms of prostate cancer deaths. In fact, the disease kills more than two times as many black men as white men in America. Robinson said that by promoting the lifesaving information through barber shops, a sort of male comfort zone, men who would ordinarily shy away from the subject are drawn in.   “We train barbers with information and give them a supply of baseball caps and the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] prostate cancer decision guide for African American men. We track how many hats are distributed, how many to men and how many to women, to get an idea of how the outreach is going,” Robinson said. “Through the barbers, we explain how important a healthy diet is, like eating less fat and meat and more fruits and vegetables. …We have feedback that as a result of the program, men who were screened discovered they did, in fact, have prostate cancer, but luckily were able to get help and treatment.”   The communities BAP Cap targets are those with the highest rates of prostate cancer, Robinson said. Currently, BAP Cap has been active in more than 50 barber shops, from the Lowcountry to the Midlands and in other geographic areas of the state.   Recently, Robinson was recognized by Gov. Mark Sanford and first lady Jenny Sanford for the BAP Cap outreach program. Now, Robinson is working with the governor’s office for national recognition of the program by the National Governor’s Association for innovative health initiatives.   The BAP Cap message also will be shared, for the first time, at the Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Programs of Ohio at its statewide conference in Cleveland Aug. 24 - 25, where Robinson will be a featured speaker. The program appears to be going national, he said. DASH Diet While BAP Cap focuses on prostate cancer, another BMHI program, “Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension,” or DASH Diet, focuses on hypertension prevention and grew out of a partnership between BMHI and MUSC.   This program is promoted through churches, primarily the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, and more recently the Baptist Church.   The “Putting DASH in Our Diets” project is a new pilot project targeted to reducing the risks for hypertension and strokes by: a) educating black men about the DASH; b) dialoguing about what hypertension, strokes and heart attacks are, the risks for each and how to prevent them via improved nutrition education; c) ensuring men know their own blood pressure; and d) creating a sample two-week eating plan incorporating lessons learned from the DASH Diet.   BMHI schedules group presentations for men through AME churches in counties or towns with the highest prevalence of stroke, heart attacks and associated cardiovascular disease, Robinson said. While AME’s Sons of Allen groups have been targeted in the pilot phase of the project, several Baptist churches in Orangeburg county have been included in the DASH outreach program’s pilot phase.   Participants were educated about the DASH Diet via dissemination and review of eating plans; discussion of hypertension, strokes and heart attacks; having their blood pressure taken; and spending time creating a two-week diet plan that incorporated increased fruits and/or vegetables and improved ways of preparing foods, based on the DASH Diet.   Question: How does one spell exercise the BMHI way? Answer: PETROC: Provide pedometers for each male on each campus; Educate men on the benefits of increased physical activity; Track and chart progress each semester; Record the actual benefits of the walking program (weight loss, etc.); Offer an incentive to those who walk 50, 100 or 150 miles in a single semester; and Create healthy competition between the S.C.’s historically black college and university (HBCU) campuses by comparing the number of steps and total weight loss per campus and honoring the campus with the greatest level of achievement.   Black men in South Carolina lead nearly every category of health risk, morbidity and mortality. The PETROC initiative focuses on obesity and the lack of physical activity among black men. Funds are currently being sought to pilot PETROC.   The purpose of PETROC is to encourage black men on the state’s HBCU campuses to become more active through walking. For older students, faculty and staff, the BMHI will outfit each male with a new pedometer (with built-in radio and lightweight headphones), encourage them to walk or run over the course of each semester, and monitor their progress at five, 10 and 15 weeks.   Each S.C. HBCU campus will be surveyed to determine the number of men who will participate in PETROC, educational sessions about the health implications of an inactive lifestyle will be conducted, baseline weights of participants will be collected, and the progress of each campus (miles walked and weight loss) will be monitored at week five, 10 and at the end of the semester. Findings will be recorded and reported, and the campus that logs the most miles and loses the most collective weight will be honored at a reception.   The overall goal of the proposed PETROC project is to get black men to be more physically active, and draw attention to this issue and project. Reducing the weight of black men will reduce risk for all chronic disease and cancers, increase their mobility and improve their overall quality of life, Robinson said.   For more information on any of these programs, visit http://www.bmhi.org.     Friday, July 21, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.