Over the last year and a half, we’ve looked at the expanding offerings from the Mansfield/Richland County Public Library. In addition to books, that would include other items such as bicycles and wi-fi hotspots.
That list is now growing as Richland Public Health has created an opportunity for customers of the MRCPL and the Marvin Memorial Library in Shelby to check out electronic blood pressure monitoring kits.
High blood pressure, also known as hypertension, raises your risks for heart attack, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.
The Communities Preventing Chronic Disease Project at Richland Public Health has joined with the area libraries and the Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging to lend out blood pressure monitoring kits to customers at the library. This effort is part of the American Heart Association’s Million Hearts initiative to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes.
“Fifty percent of those with high blood pressure, even those under the care of a physician, have uncontrolled blood pressure,” according to Sydney Lange, a Health Educator in Richland Public Health’s Community Health and Prevention Sciences Division.
Self measuring one’s blood pressure allows individuals to track and to share those readings with their doctor to better manage their high blood pressure.
The blood pressure monitoring kits include an electronic blood pressure monitor, arm cuff, AC adaptor, batteries, a quick user’s guide, educational materials and a BP wallet card for tracking your numbers. The kits will be available at all locations of the Mansfield Richland County Public Library and at the Shelby Marvin Memorial Library as an item for check out according to each library’s set loaning period.
The Ohio District 5 Area Agency on Aging will have an electronic blood pressure kit available for on-site use only, at 2131 Park Ave. W. Suite 100, in Ontario.
To learn how to check BP Cuff kits from your local branch, visit mrcpl.org, shelbymm.lib.oh.us or richlandhealth.org.
For more information about this project, call Sydney Lange, Health Educator at Richland Public Health, 419-774-4771, or email: [email protected].
