Is Craven Arms young at heart?
People who live or work in Craven Arms can find out their heart age at a special event in the town on Tuesday 25 November 2014.
Shropshire’s HeartAge event takes place from 12pm to 7pm at the Craven Arms Community Centre (CASCA), where residents between 21 and 74 years old can come along and find out more about heart health, and get advice on how to make small changes to their lifestyles to help improve their health and well-being.
High blood pressure and/or cholesterol levels significantly increase your risk of heart disease, and therefore your ‘heart age’ compared with your actual age. However, 80% of early heart disease such as heart attack and stroke is preventable by making just a few adjustments in life styles.
People will therefore also be able to have the opportunity to get both their blood pressure and cholesterol tested for just £10.
The event, supported by Shropshire Council’s public health team, is part of the Shropshire HeartAge campaign. The team will be on hand to meet residents, and encourage them to take the online HeartAge test.
The public health team are working closely with a number of organisations in Craven Arms who have seen the value of encouraging people to ‘know their numbers’ through this testing event – in particular, South Shropshire Housing Association (SSHA) (part of Shropshire Housing Group) is supporting the event via its Community Fund, which is offering a limited number of vouchers for free tests for any tenant of SSHA. Vouchers are available from The Gateway in Craven Arms. Local employer Britpart is also supporting the activity by offering free testing for its staff on Wednesday 26 November.
Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health, said:
“Early heart disease is a major killer in the county, and is preventable. However, the risk factors of high blood pressure and high cholesterol are invisible, and so most of us are unaware that we may be at risk until it is too late. We have been working with the HeartAge Partnership to raise awareness of the HeartAge online test.
“The Craven Arms initiative now offers the residents of the town a fantastic opportunity to know their numbers, and if necessary take the necessary steps to reduce their risk of early heart disease. We’re very grateful for the support of local organisations in promoting this initiative, and I would encourage anyone who can to go along to the Community Centre and find out more.”
Residents can just turn up on the day, or appointments can be booked by phoning 07919 403354.
For more information about Shropshire’s HeartAge and other health initiatives and advice, visit our Healthy Shropshire at www.healthyshropshire.co.uk.
Further information
Shropshire Council’s public health team has worked in partnership with the HeartAge Partnership to launch Shropshire’s very own HeartAge Campaign. The campaign encourages Shropshire residents to take a quick online test to determine their heart age.
The test includes a few simple lifestyle questions and takes no longer than five minutes. Questions include such things as age, height, weight, level of physical activity, and smoking status. If your heart age comes out a lot higher than your actual age, there’ll be advice on how you can make small changes to help reduce the potential risk of heart disease and other underlying health conditions.
Shropshire’s HeartAge test is designed to give you an overall idea of the health of your heart, and a general indication of how lifestyle related factors may affect your heart health. This test is not intended to be a medical diagnostic, nor a substitute for professional medical advice, but it will give you a good general indication of whether there’s more you can do to take care of your heart.
