Making Blood Pressure Monitoring a Pleasure

On 14 September 2022, community nurse Ms Pearlyn Chee from Tan Tock Seng Hospital’s Community Health Team came to conduct a workshop on blood pressure monitoring at MWS Senior Activity Centre – GreenTops@Sims Place.

Through the workshop, the 25 participants learned how to take and record their blood pressure more accurately. More importantly, they came to understand how regularly tracking their blood pressure gives them a better overview of their own health. The seniors enjoyed the workshop so much that they now take the initiative to check their blood pressure independently whenever they come across the blood pressure machine at our Vital Signs Monitoring Station.

To further encourage seniors to monitor their blood pressure regularly, the MWS SAC team came up with a rewards redemption programme that rewards seniors who monitor and record their blood pressure regularly for at least two weeks.

The skills they have learnt will certainly come in handy when they have to attend to their neighbours in times of emergencies, such as when the Alert Alarm System is triggered after the Centre’s closing time. They will be able to measure the blood pressure of the neighbour in distress and interpret the results as to whether the blood pressure is normal or otherwise. This will help them to decide whether they need to call an ambulance.

TTSH also runs a weekly Community Health Post at our Centre. It is so well-received by the seniors that slots are often instantly taken up. The Community Health Post is effective not only in helping seniors understand more about their health and the importance of monitoring their lifestyle; it also helps us to identify the seniors who require more support, especially those with greater physical or emotional needs. The seniors enjoy chatting with the nurses and open up to them to share their problems.

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