Craig Hunt is partnered with the American Heart Association to offer free blood pressure checks in barbershops after suffering a sudden stroke 10 years ago.
Author: Dana Searles
Published: 10:35 AM CDT May 26, 2026
Updated: 10:35 AM CDT May 26, 2026
DES MOINES, Iowa — During stroke awareness month, a local barber is working to teach his community to recognize symptoms of a stroke early.
The American Heart Association says 446 people in the U.S. die from a stroke every day.
Craig Hunt, the owner of University Barber Shop in Des Moines, is a stroke survivor.
10 years ago, Hunt suffered a stroke on a typical Monday morning while he was cutting hair.
“It was kind of a scary situation,” Hunt said. “I had all these barbers, all these people depending on me, clients, and I’m laying in the hospital bed, had a major stroke.”
It happened just one week after his son was born. Hunt lost feeling in his left side and his dominant hand.
“I was scared to death, like ‘dang, am I gonna lose movement? How am I, how am I gonna work? What am I gonna do?’ All those type of thoughts were just a lot of fear,” Hunt said.
It forced Hunt to relearn most of what he already knows and cut hair with his non-dominant hand. However, in the moment, the question of why buzzes through the brain.
“I was going to the gym, playing basketball, working out. I was working 45, 50 hours a week, you know, I felt great,” Hunt said.
Hunt said he felt healthy, so he stopped taking his high blood pressure medication.
In the moment he was unaware of the consequences, but now he’s seeing the signs and realizing it is preventable.
Hunt is now working to share his story and spread awareness for noticing signs of a stroke early.
In partnership with the American Heart Association of Iowa, Hunt is now spearheading Blood Pressures in Barbershops. It’s a statewide effort to bring local nurses into barbershops and take blood pressures for free.
“This served as a really great platform to kind of bring some great education to the community and say, hey, if this could happen to Craig, this could happen to anybody,” said Wesley Franklin, community impact director for American Heart Association of Iowa.
The effort started as a casual conversation while Franklin was getting his hair cut by Hunt.
Free blood pressure checks now span to more than 80 locations across the state.
“We hear stories where like, hey, you know, ‘I came to a blood pressure hub in Iowa, and I got my numbers checked and I’m eating a little bit better. I’m learning from those nursing students or those health care providers provided through the American Heart Association. I’m making a difference with my life.’ We always say if you speak to the heart those metrics would follow,” Franklin said.
The effort is continuing while Hunt shows the power of perseverance; he can now cut hair with both of his hands and feels nearly 100% healthy.
“For me, my story is being a reverse tornado,” Hunt said. “Meaning that I try to build everything up that comes in my path, so I feel like that’s a way for me to help build other people up, build my community up, work with a great organization that helps people, so it brings me great joy.”
The American Heart Association says it’s important to follow the “BE FAST” acronym when looking for signs of a stroke:
- B – Balance loss
- E – Eye (vision) changes
- F – Face drooping
- A – Arm weakness
- S – Speech difficulty
- T – Time to call 911
Strokes run in my family and I already take three meds to control my blood pressure. I saw my grandmother when she had hers. I made her go to the ER.