Blood pressure checks, advice offered for all
New Zealand is under pressure and the Heart Foundation is doing something about it.
It has launched a nationwide blood pressure awareness campaign to encourage New Zealanders to get their blood pressure checked.
Pop-ups are being held across the country, including Oamaru, this month, offering free blood pressure checks.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, affects one million New Zealanders and is the single biggest risk factor for the country's biggest killer — heart disease.
One in three New Zealanders over 30 have high blood pressure and there are 350,000 who have high blood pressure and do not know it.
Oamaru heart health advocate Jan Keown ran a pop-up outside The Warehouse earlier this week.
It was "very much educational", she said.
Alongside checking blood pressure, she handed out pamphlets and information sheets explaining how to interpret the results and where the numbers should ideally be.
"If the readings are out of kilter with that, we recommend people get them checked either at their pharmacy or with their GP and just know that there are things that they can do to keep their blood pressure down."
She said there was a good number of people who came through to get checks.
There will be another pop-up outside Mitre 10 Oamaru on Tuesday, from 10am to 2pm.
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