AEDS, blood pressure cuffs available at local libraries

Libraries with Heart provides blood pressure-monitoring kits for people to check out and AEDs at libraries.


HCA Florida’s Sandy McPherson and Dr. Duron Lee, Windermere Library’s Lelia Higgins, Christina Kophamer, Charles Hill and Brittany Laur and American Heart Association’s Emory Parkins and Jimmy Clarity partnered together for Libraries with Heart.
HCA Florida’s Sandy McPherson and Dr. Duron Lee, Windermere Library’s Lelia Higgins, Christina Kophamer, Charles Hill and Brittany Laur and American Heart Association’s Emory Parkins and Jimmy Clarity partnered together for Libraries with Heart.
Photo by Liz Ramos
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Windermere Library Manager Lelia Higgins watched as one of her staff members used a blood pressure cuff to measure his blood pressure during a training on the monitoring kits. 

Higgins said the staff member, who was in good health, was surprised to learn he had an elevated blood pressure he wouldn’t have known about if it weren’t for the monitoring kit that now is available to checkout at the library. 

HCA Florida Healthcare and the American Heart Association have partnered with the Orange County Library System to provide blood pressure-monitoring kits for library cardholders who are at least 18 years old to check out through Libraries with Heart. 

Jimmy Clarity, vice president of community impact for the American Heart Association, said the American Heart Association and HCA have had a long-standing relationship. Libraries with Heart was an opportunity for the organizations to expand their relationship.

“The American Heart Association in particular has had a greater focus on not just addressing chronic disease, which is kind of the bread and butter of our organization, but also on improving cardiac emergency response,” Clarity said. “What’s really important to us, and I know also at HCA, is that we meet people where they are, and so we try to bring our community work to life in settings, like for example, the library. It’s a place where people gather and spend a lot of their time and can access resources. It’s not just about checking out library books anymore.”

The organizations decided to have blood pressure-monitoring kits offered for checkout at Orange County libraries. So far, 95 kits are available across 11 libraries, and the kits were checked out 459 times last year, Higgins said. 

Dr. Duron Lee, an HCA Florida physician at UCF Lake Nona Hospital, has worked with 54 library staff members throughout Orange County Library System to train them as part of Cardiac Emergency Response Plan Teams at the libraries. 

Each branch has at least two staff members who have been trained to teach people how to use the blood pressure-monitoring kits. They also have learned CPR, first aid, how to use the AED defibrillators and more. 

The teams offer formal classes to community members at the libraries to teach through demonstration, videos and reading how to use the kits and how to talk with their health professionals about the results. 

The library system also has outreach teams that go into the community to events and places such as senior centers with the kits for people to be able to checkout.

“As a clinician, this just kind of makes sense, meeting people where they are and having trusted messengers as well,” Lee said. 

Lee said six out of 10 Americans have cardiovascular disease, and it doesn’t always present in a particular way. 

“It happens to anyone at any time, regardless of age, regardless of medical history,” he said. “All the studies have shown that for every minute that someone’s heart is not effectively beating, survivability decreases significantly. The reason to have this here readily accessible and having staff trained to address this is crucial. It can be life saving, literally.”

Higgins said the library system’s motto is “libraries change lives,” whether it’s physically, intellectually or mentally. Being a part of Libraries with Heart serves that motto. 

Charles Hill, a librarian at the Windermere Library who also is a part of the library’s Cardiac Emergency Response Team, said the library tries to reach people in as many ways as possible.

“You might be teaching two people in class, but those two people might spread that information to four or five people, and so it kind of rolls downhill and collects traction,” Hill said. 

Lee said accessibility is huge for people to be able to be “an ambassador of their own health.”

“What I see as a clinician is medical anxiety is real,” Lee said. “People fear going to the doctor. Even the idea of being diagnosed with something inhibits people from seeking help or care, so this is a fabulous opportunity where folks can really take things into their own hands and monitor something like their blood pressure.” 

The next venture for Libraries with Heart was to provide automated external defibrillators to all 15 libraries. Leigh Andrus, the marketing manager for the Orange County Library System, said AEDs have been placed at every library, and an AED is available on every floor of the library in downtown Orlando. 

Every library also has adopted a cardiac emergency response plan and has trained staff on how to use the AED.

HCA Florida Healthcare’s UCF Lake Nona Hospital donated $50,000 to cover the cost of the AED defibrillators. The donation also covered the cost of the CPR training and other ancillary costs related to the initiative. 

Lee said having AEDs available is “monumental.”

“It’s surprising that there isn’t easy access to AEDs everywhere,” he said. 

 

author

Liz Ramos

Senior Editor Liz Ramos previously covered education and community for the East County Observer. Before moving to Florida, Liz was an education reporter for the Lynchburg News & Advance in Virginia for two years after graduating from the Missouri School of Journalism.

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