Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke (NICHS) is urging the public to come along and have their blood pressure checked at MACE Greenisland.

It’s all part of a blood pressure awareness campaign arising from the charity’s concern around the number of people living with undetected high blood pressure – with 1 in 2 heart attacks and strokes linked to the condition.

Fidelma Carter, Head of Public Health at NICHS says; “Over 299,800 people, or around 20 percent of the adult population in NI, have a diagnosis of high blood pressure, but there are around 120,000 who have high blood pressure and do not realise it.

“Undetected high blood pressure is often known as ‘The Silent Killer’ due to the fact it rarely causes any physical symptoms or warning signs and is often only discovered after someone suffers a stroke or heart attack. The only way to know what your blood pressure is, and if it is high, is to have it measured. We are delighted to be working with our corporate partner MACE to give the public an opportunity to access free blood pressure checks.”

NICHS will be offering free blood pressure checks at selected MACE stores, and they are urging the public to come along and have their blood pressure measured. Image by Bruno from Pixabay

placeholder image — NICHS will be offering free blood pressure checks at selected MACE stores, and they are urging the public to come along and have their blood pressure measured. Image by Bruno from Pixabay

NICHS’s Health Promotion team will be visiting MACE Greenisland on Thursday, May 21 from 10am to 1pm to provide pop-up blood pressure checks to the local community. “A blood pressure check is simple and only takes a few minutes, but it really could help save your life,” Fidelma added.

“If you can’t make it to the pop-up checks there are several other ways you can get your blood pressure checked. You can make an appointment with your GP practice, where a practice nurse may be able to take your blood pressure, or you can visit your local pharmacy, many of which offer blood pressure monitoring services. We are also encouraging people to consider buying a home blood pressure monitoring machine if possible.”

Diane Anthony from MACE added: “We are delighted to play our part in supporting NICHS’s blood pressure awareness campaign and to welcome our charity partner to our stores to deliver blood pressure checks. We are very proud of our long-term partnership with NICHS, which is entering its tenth year, and this latest initiative is extremely worthwhile and could save lives. We would encourage our shoppers to pop in and avail of the service.”