The American Heart Association and St. Elizabeth Healthcare installed a new blood pressure monitoring kiosk at St. Elizabeth Edgewood.
St. Elizabeth leadership and staff and representatives from the American Heart Association were on hand Tuesday, August 21, for a ceremonial ribbon cutting.
The American Heart Association is devoted to saving people from heart disease and stroke – the two leading causes of death in the world. It teams with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases.
This is the first blood pressure kiosk the American Heart Association has installed in Greater Cincinnati. The kiosk provides instructions to ensure the user receives an accurate blood pressure reading and information to interpret their blood pressure reading and make healthy lifestyle choices that can help control their blood pressure.
One of the kiosk’s most valuable features is that users can also register for the American Heart Association’s evidence-based online blood pressure control tracker called Check. Change. Control.
Once a user enrolls in Check. Change. Control. they are encouraged to regularly monitor blood pressure, which can be done by returning to the kiosk. They will receive important tips and feedback along the way to help improve their blood pressure readings.
“Thanks to the outstanding support of St. Elizabeth Healthcare, this kiosk paired with the Check. Change. Control. program has the potential to help hundreds of area residents take control of their blood pressure and live healthy lives for many more years to come,” said Missy Ford,
vice president and executive director of the Cincinnati American Heart Association.
Dr. D.P. Suresh, medical director for St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular, agreed.
“With this kiosk, we are able to provide a way to make blood pressure monitoring simple and ongoing. It’s such an important number for people to know.” Suresh said. “The Check. Change. Control. app puts information about managing blood pressure at each person’s fingertips.”
According to new blood pressure guidelines released in November that define high blood pressure beginning at 130/80, nearly half (46 percent) of U.S. adults may have high blood pressure. Uncontrolled high blood pressure raises the risk of stroke, heart attack or heart failure.
It’s sometimes called the “silent killer” because it has no symptoms. Improving access to blood pressure monitoring tools and education can help more Americans manage high blood pressure.
The St. Elizabeth Heart & Vascular Institute has a goal to reduce heart-related deaths by 25 percent by the year 2025. This kiosk is one way St. Elizabeth is helping to empower individuals in this community to improve their heart health.
For more information about controlling high blood pressure and other healthy living tips, click here.
The Dallas-based American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary organization dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. To learn more or to get involved, call 1-800-AHA-USA1, or visit heart.org.
St. Elizabeth Healthcare operates five facilities throughout Northern Kentucky and more than 115 primary care and specialty office locations in Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio. For more information, click here.
St. Elizabeth Healthcare