Saving Lives From Silent Killers

Karina Reyes, R.N. tests a patient during a recent health screening

Since January, CHRISTUS Healthy Living Mobile Clinics have been in the community offering health screenings to those most in-need. The screenings cover blood pressure and glucose and lipid panels.

According to Laura Clay, Mobile Clinics Registered Nurse, there is a dire need for these screenings in the communities being served.  “We are seeing many patients with very high blood pressure, as well as the results that require medical intervention.”

During a March visit to St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, the Mobile Clinics team encountered 63-year-old Norma,* a patient with extremely high blood pressure. “She said that she was on medication at one point, but didn’t feel any different, so she stopped the medication,” Clay said.

The team took the time to educate Norma on what it meant to be asymptomatic, and the reason why these conditions are called silent killers. “We immediately sent her to St. Mary’s Clinic where they worked her into the day’s schedule,” Clay said. “She was prescribed new blood pressure medication and was even given a gift card to fill the prescription.”

The team followed up with her, and she was thankful for the service. “Norma said no one had ever cared enough nor treated her the way the CHRISTUS team did,” Clay said. “She said ‘God sent angels to save her’.”

*not patient’s real name