Making the healthy choice the easy choice – that's what the Health and Human Services Agency (HHSA) South Region is doing for customers and staff today at the 690 Oxford St. location. The South Region Public Health Center in partnership with San Diego State University School of Nursing and National University are providing free blood pressure checks from 7:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. in hopes of providing everyone that has a desire the opportunity to know their numbers and to love their hearts!

According to the American Heart Association, there are approximately 80 million adults in the United States that have been diagnosed with high blood pressure. High blood pressure is a disease and if it not controlled, can have deadly consequences. Many times the symptoms of high blood pressure are silent which is why it becomes imperative that individuals get to know their numbers and become familiar with what they mean.

With a goal to help customers and staff get to know their blood pressure numbers, by just 9:30 a.m. in the morning, approximately 133 individuals at the 690 Oxford site have had their blood pressure checked, and that is just the beginning. The nurses providing the screenings have even greater aspirations for conducting hundreds more blood pressure checks throughout the day.

Making the decision to get your blood pressure checked is not always an easy one, so having readily available opportunities such as that provided at the 690 Oxford St. site and at sites throughout San Diego County can really make the difference for individuals that don't normally visit their doctor or who are normally in a crunch for time.

The nurses providing the blood pressure checks are making sure they are informative when educating about the blood pressure numbers, but they are also enthusiastic about the impact they were making in the lives of those they are screening.

To ensure that staff get their blood pressures checked as well, the nurses hosted screenings in a separate room for their staff to reduce barriers to them participating.

The blood pressure checks at the 690 Oxford site will continue throughout the day until 4:00 p.m. and are open to any individual or staff that would like to know their numbers. One remarkable facet about these blood pressure checks is that the nurses conducting the screenings not only measure the blood pressures, but they also serve a resource for customers who have no health insurance, connecting them to essential partners such as 2-1-1 to ensure they establish a medical home.

The blood pressure checks being offered are in essence making huge impacts in many aspects – it is helping individuals know their current blood pressure numbers, increasing their knowledge of the importance of understanding what their numbers mean, and lastly, these same individuals screened will go back and spread the word about the importance of knowing your blood pressure numbers.

With everyone making a concerted effort to emphasize the importance of knowing your blood pressure numbers, each year moving forward will only connect more and more individuals to having this needed screening and will undoubtedly make a positive impact on the lives of many, especially those that may not have been aware that they  have a high blood pressure reading.

So we encourage everyone to make it their mission to get regular blood pressure checks and to ensure they connect themselves, family members, or friends to free screenings such as those offered on this "Love Your Heart" day throughout San Diego County.