Stroke Awareness Day, St Elli Centre

Llanelli Rotary Club will be holding a Stroke Awareness Day at the St Elli Shopping Centre, Llanelli, between 10am and 4pm on Saturday, April 18.

The event is part of a national campaign by the Rotary organisation and the Stroke Association to help save lives.

Llanelli Rotary Club President Hywel Bassett said: “Checking your blood pressure on a regular basis is a very important first step to staying healthy.

“Llanelli Rotary Club members are delighted to be joined by trained professional doctors and nurses to give members of the public the chance to have their blood pressure checked during a break from shopping at the St Elli Centre.

“It is all part of a bid to raise awareness of the link between high blood pressure and strokes.

“In previous years, we have assisted more than 200 people in having their blood pressure checked on the day. Obviously, anyone with high blood pressure was given the appropriate medical advice on the spot and told what steps to take next to combat the problem.”

More than 400 ‘Know Your Blood pressure’ events are staged around Great Britain and Ireland.

It is estimated that around 16 million people in the UK and Ireland have high blood pressure and around a third are unaware of this.

At least 40% of strokes could be prevented each year if people checked their blood pressure and took steps to control it.

Staff from Llanelli’s Ty Elli surgery are kindly donating their time to man the stroke awareness stand.

Rotarians Dr Kevin Jones, Dr Ken Abban and Dr Alan Cope will be in attendance.
Last year, more than 30,000 people were checked at Know Your Blood Pressure events and 4,000 were found to have high blood pressure.
Blood pressure can be kept under control by eating a diet low in saturated fat, exercising regularly and cutting your salt intake.

Knowing your blood pressure is the vital first step.

Llanelli Rotary President Mr Bassett said: “This is an annual event in Llanelli and we have had great response from the public in previous years. This year, the Stroke Awareness Stand will have an extra dimension as we are also taking the opportunity to showcase to the people of Llanelli the winners of our recent Young Photographer competition.

“There is a warm invitation to one and all to visit the Rotary stand at the St Elli Centre between 10am and 4pm on Saturday, April 18.”