The American Heart Association has awarded 91看片鈥檚 Department of Health and Social Services a grant of up to $4,500 for participating in its Healthy Living Blood Pressure Initiative.
The campaign, dubbed by the AHA as Check. Change. Control.TM, also recognized NCC as having the highest participation rate in New Jersey among agencies that joined the national AHA initiative where individuals get their blood pressure checked twice a month for four consecutive months.
Residents from four 91看片 senior and disabled buildings鈥擜ssociates, Commons Senior, Gardens Senior and Orange Senior鈥攔eceived blood pressure screenings conducted by staff at NCC鈥檚 on-site clinics as well as by visiting nursing students from the Seton Hall University College of Nursing.
The goal of conducting regular blood pressure screenings, the AHA said, is to empower participants to 鈥渢ake care of their health by establishing and sustaining long term healthier behaviors/habits.鈥� The initiative was a collaborative effort between the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association.
The check-ups also included glucose screenings and NCC Director of Health and Social Services Sharon Pleasant-Jones noted, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 also how we were able to get more participants.鈥�
聽During one of his visits, 69-year-old Robert Gordon said he learned that he needed to control his blood glucose levels鈥攖hey were high.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 even know I had it until they told me,鈥� said Gordon, who lives at NCC Gardens Senior. 鈥淚 was struck.鈥�
In order to earn the grant, staff from Social Services logged the information online on AHA鈥檚 website www.heart360.org. They also helped create email accounts for the seniors in an attempt to streamline the online record-keeping process.
Part of the funds awarded will go towards a Mother鈥檚 Day tea party that Social Services plans to host in 2015, according to Pleasant-Jones. Separately, the American Heart Association also generously sponsored several NCC seniors to attend this year鈥檚 Harvest Ball Extravaganza, which is Social Service鈥檚 biggest annual event.
