Fieldhouse provides free blood pressure checks for members

ZANESVILLE, Ohio- February is heart disease awareness month and a local gym is educating its members on heart health.

Heart disease is a leading cause of death in Americans. Alainna Durfee, the Director of Marketing at the Fieldhouse, said they teamed up with Quality Care Partners to offer free blood pressure checks to their members.

“There’s so many people that say ‘oh my insurance is changed just recently’ or ‘I don’t have time to get to the doctor’, but again you’ll see how busy we are today, they have time to come in here. So this is a way to kind of get both things done. Is to get their exercise in as well as get their heart checked. Especially with February being the heart month.

Many members took advantage of the opportunity having their blood pressure checked after their workout. Charlotte Snider, a nurse with Quality Care Partners, said blood pressure is a major vital sign and it’s important to know if your pressure is too high because it can cause strokes, heart attacks, and kidney disease.

“If we were seeing a blood pressure that was severely elevated we would definitely be wanting them to get in touch with their physicians’ office right away. Making sure that they’re following up with their physician and that they have somewhere to be seen. And within a reasonable length of time.”

While a high blood pressure isn’t good, a low blood pressure isn’t much better and could negatively affect your body too.

“People can have a seriously low blood pressure and if they do have low blood pressure they will have some symptoms of being very tired and fatigued and those kinds of things.”

Snider said people should maintain an active lifestyle to keep their blood pressure at a healthy level.

“Exercise is a wonderful way to maintain a healthy blood pressure. It helps to strengthen the heart, reduces the blood pressure of persons who may have an elevated blood pressure. As long as they have their doctors permission to exercise then people should definitely exercise, watch their diet, and the salt intake to help lower that blood pressure.”

And salt intake is a big part of high blood pressure said Snider and people should pay close attention to the foods they eat.

“One of the most things that can actually affect it would be salt intake. Salt in the diet will really cause a blood pressure to go up. There can be a lot of different hidden salts in the diet people may not even know about. Processed foods, canned foods definitely have a much higher salt content.”

Snider said a healthy blood pressure is 120 over 80, but that can also be adjusted by your doctor based on your personal health.