Knowing Your Blood Pressure Numbers
The Power of Proactive Care
It’s natural for our blood pressure to fluctuate throughout the day based on our activity level, stress, emotions, or even body temperature. However, prolonged high blood pressure levels, or hypertension, can lead to health issues, particularly for the heart. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hypertension affects almost half of U.S. adults but here’s the even more alarming reality: only 1 in 4 of those adults is effectively managing it.
We quickly recognized the value of integrating the American Heart Association’s Check. Change. Control. ® Program into our Exemplar Care member services. Check. Change. Control. ® is a four-month hypertension management program empowering individuals to take charge of their health through blood pressure self-monitoring.
Key features of this program include:
- Goal setting
- Blood pressure monitor for at-home tracking
- On-site care team to support participants & provide monthly educational sessions
Don’t just take it from us!
Meet Jane and John, a couple whose story highlights the success of the Check. Change. Control. ® Program at Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care. It all started when Jane received a call from our clinical team inviting her to participate in the program. She considered her age and recent slightly elevated blood pressure readings and decided to sign up.
“I received my monitor from Exemplar Care and began tracking my blood pressure. It was back to normal, so I thought maybe the monitor was off and recruited my husband, John, to test it,” explained Jane. John has always been considered fit and healthy, completes his annual physicals, takes no prescription medications, and is not overweight.
John took several readings that night and the next day that displayed unexpectedly high values. “There were no indications that would have led me to believe his blood pressure was that way,” remarked Jane. At this point, she convinced John to join the Check. Change. Control. ® Program and they began monitoring their blood pressure together, revealing a previously undetected hypertension diagnosis for John.
Thanks to the program, John promptly consulted his primary care provider at Exemplar Care to develop a plan, avoiding potential complications from delayed detection. Jane’s readings have now returned to normal, and John has been implementing the diet and exercise suggestions given by his Exemplar Care provider and education provided by the program to help lower his readings. Jane emphasized that, “If it wasn’t for this program and the access to care we receive as member patients through my employer, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have caught this for months, maybe even a year.”
This member patient testimonial speaks to the effectiveness of the Check. Change. Control. ® Program, particularly paired with Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care’s Direct Primary are model. With longer same day or next day appointments and 24/7 access to care, patients like Jane and John can receive prompt attention and personalized care plans tailored to their goals. This narrative is a reminder that prevention and proactive monitoring are key to achieving better health outcomes for all. Learn more about becoming a Hy-Vee Health Exemplar Care member here.
