Turning Barbershops into Telehealth Centers

In urban neighborhoods, where Internet service and health care can be hard to access, a novel pilot project uses local barbershops and salons as wireless hubs and hypertension screening centers. Dec 2019, barbershops and hair salons in urban and rural communities across five cities will connect USB blood pressure cuffs to telehealth platforms via community networks to attack hypertension, the leading cause of strokes. By adding telehealth capabilities to the screening process, customers potentially can access educational content about stroke and heart attack prevention, hypertension and wellness programs. During the pilot, customers can download free telehealth software that enables them to set up home video consults with their own doctors. 

Ron Deus is CEO of NetX, a regional wireless Internet service provider (ISP) in Cleveland (OH). “What happens in the suburban and urban areas amounts to redlining,” said Deus. “Incumbents’ buildouts, upgrades and adoption efforts happen in the most profitable areas first. Areas just a mile or two away become digital deserts. A lot of incumbents are shareholder driven, so their first concerns are their profits and cherry-picking.” As Internet network hubs, urban barbershops are less costly to set up than in rural areas, and they are good locations for telehealth pilots. They are also great when it comes to word-of-mouth marketing. What’s needed is the right kind of grant to cover both broadband and telehealth for these urban locations.

[Craig Settles assists cities and co-ops with business planning for broadband and telehealth.]