Know Your Blood Pressure Day

Know your Blood Pressure

The Rotary Club of Hastings was in Priory Meadow for most of the day providing the opportunity for shoppers to know their blood pressure. This invaluable service has been an annual part of the club's community programme for many years. Rotary clubs across the country are hoping to bring awareness of the dangers of high blood pressure to their local community. Hastings Rotarians, with qualified nurses, were in the Priory Meadow from 10am to 4pm offering free blood pressure readings plus advice and information on the dangers of high blood pressure also what can be done to reduce or avoid it.

The three qualified medical professional were kept busy all day with a good age spread ranging from 17 to 96. An anonymous survey was completed which may help in identifying regional anomalies. Shoppers took the opportunity to discuss their life style choices with the qualified staff and it was hoped that people will at least be a little more knowledgeable than they were before.

Rotarian Derek Lawrence, who headed up the clubs campaign, said the problems with a stroke is are well known but there is no way of knowing that you have high blood pressure which can cause a stroke. Measuring your blood pressure is the only way of knowing that you may have a potential problem, and usually life style changes or simple medication can bring this down to acceptable levels. The Rotary Club have had several experiences of their own members having their blood pressure taken at these events only to find they had exceptionally high readings, so they speak with experience when they said come along and