Carry On Nurse... No pressure?

The Know Your Blood Pressure campaign helps people to understand the link between high blood pressure and stroke.  Working with the Stroke Association, Rotary offers free blood pressure information and holds free blood pressure testing events across the UK. 

Our Rotary Club completed just such a KYBP event at the Waitrose store in Billericay High Street in April when we tested over 100 members of the public (as reported in last month’s Newsletter).  The store was so impressed by our efforts they invited us back as part of its “Wellness Week” to do a further testing session for the staff.

All Ready To Go

This happened on May 20 in an upstairs  meeting room behind the scenes. The room was all laid out ready for us. Equipment assembled and tested, documents ready, pen poised, and nurse Faith Purkiss ready for her first candidate. We started 20 minutes ahead of schedule.

Non-stop from then on.   A steady stream of staff and managers ushered in by Waitrose co-ordinator Samantha Townsend kept nurse Faith busy.

We managed 24 tests in two hours, with many having excellent blood pressure levels and only three needing referrals to see their doctor within a month, but one recommended to see the GP within a week - a problem hopefully nipped in the bud.

No Spare Seats

A big vote of thanks to Faith, who was brilliant; providing one-on-one counselling not only to those whose tests advised “follow up” visits to their G.P.s, but also to anybody with queries. No seat was left spare all morning and, with the time taken for counselling,  we were close to the maximum number of tests that can be carried out by one nurse in two hours.

Waitrose have a healthy eating specialist who had laid on a presentation of healthy food for the partners to look at, and leaflets on healthy eating and good diets to follow. Not surprisingly, she had excellent blood pressure!