Toledo Check Change Control

Check. Change. Control. 

No single risk factor has greater impact on the nation’s cardiovascular death rates than high blood pressure. Approximately 46% of the adult population in America has high blood pressure, and many are not aware of their numbers.

In Northwest Ohio, nearly 250,000 adults have high blood pressure – that’s nearly the entire population of the city of Toledo. Prevention and early intervention can make a big difference, as someone with hypertension at age 30 is nearly 20 percent more likely to develop heart disease or stroke.

With sponsorship from Mercy Health, the American Heart Association partnered with three local companies in Northwest Ohio to launch, Check. Change. Control., an evidence-based hypertension management program that utilizes blood pressure self-monitoring to empower participants to take ownership of their cardiovascular health. The program incorporates the concepts of remote monitoring, online tracking and recruiting local volunteer health mentors to encourage participants.

Approximately 150 employees from General Dynamics in Lima and from Dana Inc. and SSOE in Toledo participated. A significant prevalence of high blood pressure was found among the participants, but a considerable improvement was made just by helping people check their numbers and by providing tools and resources to help them control it.
After four months at General Dynamics there were dramatic results: the hypertensive crisis percentage dropped from nearly 7% to 0%!

At SSOE, a total of 154 screenings were completed across 3 screening opportunities and also showed decreases in overall blood pressure readings. 

Local employees are improving their health and well-being by focusing on lifestyle modification factors including eating a healthy diet, lowering sodium intake, being more physically active, lowering BMI, and managing stress. These results are truly representative of lives improved and saved.