Know Your Blood Pressure Day

Brigg Rotary Club provided 255 free blood pressure checks to combat possible Stroke

Brigg Rotary, the Stroke Association and Dr Jaggs-Fowler with a team of nurses from Local Practices and the CCG teamed up to help people of Brigg take a moment and get their blood pressure tested and raised the awareness of the link between high blood pressure and stroke.

The event took place at Brigg Garden Centre where 255 readings were taken.

Of those tested, 45 people (1 in every 6 tested) were referred to see their GP within a month, 6 in the age range 30-44, 17 in the age range 45-59 and 22 in the age range 60-85.

More alarmingly 10 people needed to be referred to see their GP within a week and of those 3 were in the age range 45-59 and 7 in the age range 60-85.

Rotary certainly could have made a difference to the lives of these people.

High blood pressure accounts for over half of all strokes. Having a regular blood pressure check is important as estimates suggest there could be almost seven million people with high blood pressure who are undiagnosed and at risk of having a stroke.

Many people have high blood pressure without realising it because it often has no symptoms.  High blood pressure is far more common than you would think and it can be deadly, but fortunately it is treatable.  To find out more visit www.stroke.org/kybp