From the Massachusetts Nurse Newsletter
June 2010 Edition
| Dominique Muldoon, RN at St. Vincent Hospital, takes the blood pressure of a Worcester firefighter. | |
Members of Local 1009 IAFF, Worcester Fire Department, recently noted that those in the field of fire service have been experiencing a high number of deaths due to heart-related illnesses and diseases, including hypertension. In an effort to reverse this trend, the International Association of Fire Fighters unveiled a program to help firefighters monitor their blood pressure and to encourage them to seek treatment if necessary.
| Vicki Emerson, an RN at MetroWest Medical Center-Leonard Morse, volunteers at the firefighters’ blood pressure clinc. | |
Late in 2009 the members of Local 1009 IAFF joined in the program and a one-year program was developed with the help of the drug company Novartis. Local 1009 approached MNA Region 2 to help conduct their mini health fairs on the last Friday of every month throughout 2010 at Worcester’s fire headquarters. MNA Region 2 members joined the cause without hesitation. MNA nurses are now regularly volunteering to take and record the blood pressures of their union brothers and sisters from the Worcester Fire Department during these innovative health fairs.
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