Blood Pressure Checks Going Up

“It’s a Process” from December post, continues. 2021 was a year with many stressful changes, some good, some could have been better. Stress is the number one cause of hypertension (high blood pressure). Tanglewood Community Church’s Health Ministry has been offering free blood pressure checks to residents for the past five years.  When I became the Coordinator for the Church Health Ministry in 2017, we kept track of the number of residents who came through the craft room doors each Monday morning before Coffee.

By the end of 2017, we had 1104 residents who had taken an interest in their health through weekly blood pressure checks. In 2018 we had a grand total of 1135. But 2019 gave us our biggest number yet with 1178. In March of 2020 the whole world stopped turning, or so it appeared. Jan-Feb yielded a decent number for only two months at 439. Total all that up and my calculator spit out the number 4328. WOW!

If you are interested in donating an hour of your morning one day a week to help out, please speak with either; Kathi Flyte, Cre LaBozzetta, or myself and we will provide all equipment needed such as BP cuffs, Stethoscope, dated stamps etc. We begin at 7:15 am for the workers in the kitchen/ tech booth.  But 7:30 (Tanglewood Time) is when residents begin showing up for the 8:30 Monday coffee. Clerical helper (Karen Nelson) will check-in residents and date stamp their cards. It’s a great way to meet folks and learn their names. When you want to check out, return your card to Cre before you leave the room. (She keeps the count and alphabetizes them before returning to Karen to file). The process sort of reminds me of the Eagles song “Hotel California”…

“Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before ‘Relax, ‘ said the night man, ‘We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, But you can never leave!”     Just kidding…