(High Blood Pressure)

by: Dr. Noreen O’Shea

You may have noticed that there has been a lot of news about influenza, SARS, West Nile Virus and other infectious diseases in the media lately.  Yet, there is a disease that over 90% of people over 55 will eventually have: hypertension.  Hypertension (high blood pressure) doesn’t hit you suddenly, like infections.  It creeps up on you, causing damage over months to years.  That is why it’s called a chronic disease.  It also is a silent disease, without noticeable symptoms until the damage is done—to your heart, blood vessels, kidneys, eyes and brain.

Luckily, hypertension can be diagnosed easily.  Every time your blood pressure is taken we are screening you for hypertension.  Once we find your blood pressure is consistently over accepted levels, we treat for hypertension.  That may mean asking you to change your diet, lose weight, stop smoking or cut back on alcohol.  It can also mean a prescription for one or more blood pressure pills.  We choose that medicine based on your individual characteristics and on studies showing which medicines slow the damage and prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The Elk Point Community Health Clinic and Alcester Medical Center have been involved in a special cooperative venture with other community health centers to improve chronic disease care.  We chose hypertension and cardiovascular disease as our initial target since it is so prevalent in the patients we serve.  The “Health Disparities Collaboratives” have taught us techniques and given us tools to better manage our patients with hypertension.  You or a family member may be one of “Collaborative” patients already.  One of the hallmarks of the venture is to ask you to help manage your own health by setting a personal goal each year.  We also ask that you visit the clinic at least twice a year for a check-up, and get a blood test for cholesterol at least once a year.  We also try very hard to keep your blood pressure under 140/90, which lessens damage to important organs like your heart and kidneys.

We have been enrolled in the Collaborative process for almost three years and have usually met or exceeded national averages for our goals.  Based in part on data from the community health centers, many health insurance plans are asking doctors to show the same quality of care.  You may have seen items in their newsletters about it.  We also plan to expand to another chronic disease in April 2004 (Diabetes) and hope to have similar success.  Be sure to ask us about our progress next time you come in.