Gees Wellness Clinic

About

The Gees Wellness Clinic is a barbershop initiative builds on the trust and strength of the barbershop among African American men. This critical, cultural asset has an opportunity to bridge client needs with the many assets that exist in Milwaukee related to health and social services. This initiative meets men where they are and support those who need support connecting to appropriate primary and behavioral health homes and/or social service providers and resources.

This project was co-created with Anthem and Gee's Barbershop. The barbers refer their clients to a Wellness Genius who provides an assessment and enrolls them into the program. The Wellness Geniuses are staffed by Anthem staff.

Aims

The initiative will have four key goals:

Assess the health and social needs more than 2,880 men in the first year.
Navigate at least 2,000 men to health care and social services in the first year.
Follow-up with at least 2,000 men to identify and work through any barriers to at least one issue identified during the assessment in the first year.
Identify trends in participants’ needs and seek opportunities to address root causes.

The initiative is located at and in partnership with Gee’s Clippers on 2200 N Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53212.

The initiative is available to any customer of Gee’s every Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 9am to 4pm.

Partners

The initiative is possible through a strong partnership with the following organizations:

Advocate Aurora Health
City of Milwaukee Health Department
Covering Wisconsin
Froedtert & Medical College of WI
Hayat Pharmacy
Goodwill
The Life Center
MATC
Milwaukee Health Services, Inc.
Progressive Community Health Centers
Pete’s Food Market
Vivent (Formerly ARCW)

The project is funded by Anthem's Social Determinant of Heath grant.

Team

The initiative has been supported through a UWSMPH partnership with the Center for Community Engagement and Healthcare Partnerships and the following programs:

Life Course Initiative for Healthy Families
All of Us Research Program
Wisconsin Alzheimer's Institute, Regional Milwaukee Office

The evaluation of the initiative is through the Center for Urban Population Health.