Taking your blood pressure every year should become as normal as an annual visit to the dentist. It is a small effort that can prevent major adverse effects. Together with FC Utrecht and the Heart Foundation, UMC Utrecht is joining forces in the coming period to draw attention to the importance of measuring your blood pressure with the campaign “Wear that Band!”.
Many people in the Netherlands have high blood pressure without knowing it themselves. Among people over 65, this even concerns half of all Dutch people. High blood pressure is one of the risk factors for cardiovascular disease. Early detection and treatment of these diseases can prevent serious consequences such as kidney failure, stroke or heart attack.
“Prevention does not get the attention it deserves, while a lot of suffering can be prevented by regularly measuring your blood pressure. Especially in people aged 40 or older,” says internist-vascular medicine specialist Wilko Spiering of UMC Utrecht. “Often high blood pressure can be remedied with lifestyle changes, or at a further stage with medication. In exceptional cases, patients come to our UMC Utrecht Heart and Vascular Center, where we specialize in difficult-to-treat high blood pressure, also called therapy-resistant hypertension. But ultimately we prefer to use our knowledge to prevent, rather than cure.”
To draw attention to the importance of measuring your blood pressure, the captains of FC Utrecht and Jong FC Utrecht will play in the matches against NEC and Telstar, respectively, on Friday, April 29, wearing a special “Wear that Band!” captain’s band. This band symbolizes taking responsibility and connecting with your environment. For your club, the city, the future.
First up is FC Utrecht’s captain, Willem Janssen, wearing the red and white captain’s armband. In this video, Willem calls on everyone to put on the band. This is how Willem passes on the captain’s armband from Utrechter to Utrechter. You wear that band too, don’t you?
The Dutch Heart Foundation is organizing a campaign in May around the theme of blood pressure. The initiative of FC Utrecht and the UMC Utrecht fits in perfectly with this. At more than 500 locations in the Netherlands, including Stadion Galgenwaard, next month you can measure your blood pressure yourself under supervision and experience how easy it is. On the website of the Heart Foundation you can find more information and explanations about blood pressure and the risk of cardiovascular disease.
