Action Plan

• 1). Inform individuals that more than 50 percent of those afflicted by hypertension belong in the 65 plus category. If they are in this age group, they need to have their blood pressure checked.
  
  
• 2). Educate individuals about the four stages of blood pressure: normal, where no treatment is necessary; pre-hypertension, a stage when you need to seriously overhaul your lifestyle and make healthy changes if necessary; stage 1, which means you have hypertension and need to live healthy and take medication; and stage 2, which means you have extremely high blood pressure. This stage often requires a combination of drugs in addition to lifestyle changes.
  
  
• 3). Discuss factors that put someone more at risk for hypertension. These include being African-American, overweight, inactive, consuming lots of salt, and having a family history of hypertension.
  
  
• 4). Explain that failure to treat high blood pressure may lead to kidney disease, certain kinds of blindness, and heart failure. Sometimes, there are no specific signs indicating that you have hypertension.
  
  
• 5). Monitor your blood pressure regularly. The ideal blood pressure is systolic less than 120 and diastolic less than 80.
  
  
• 6). Disseminate the above information through creative methods. Start a consumer hotline to answer general questions like the American Heart Association has done. Print a pamphlet featuring the above information that you can distribute. Host a monthly free blood pressure screening. Teach people how to monitor their own blood pressure correctly during a company health day. Create a health website with information about hypertension.