What is KYN! Week?
The Blood Pressure Association’s Know your Numbers!® Week is the nation’s biggest blood pressure testing and awareness event.
Since its launch in 2001, KYN Week has ensured more than a million people have had their blood pressure checked so that they know their blood pressure numbers in the same way as they do their height and weight.
The event is run with the help of organisations that volunteer to provide free blood pressure testing and information to hundreds of thousands of people at ‘Pressure Stations’ nationwide.
Pressure Stations are located throughout the community including GP surgeries, hospitals, pharmacies, health clubs, leisure centres, workplaces, shopping centres and supermarkets.
Know your Numbers! Week 2009 will run from 7-13 September 2009
Previous Know your Numbers! Weeks and themes:
Know your Numbers! Week 2008 - The blood pressure 'ticking time bomb'
The Blood Pressure Association's Know your Numbers! Week, the nation's biggest blood pressure testing event, ran from 8-14 September 2008. More than 3,000 Pressure Stations run by healthcare professionals provided free blood pressure checks nationwide, from City Hall in London to a village hall on the Isle of Bute in Scotland. Celebrities including actors Prunella Scales, Timothy West, presenter Michael Aspel, Rudolph Walker (Eastenders) and Angela Wynter (Eastenders) backed the event.
Most people with high blood pressure do not have signs or symptoms: the only way to know if you have it is to have a blood pressure check. This means that undiagnosed high blood pressure is like a ticking time bomb and a potentially life threatening condition for many people in the UK. Yet a quick and painless check could potentially save your life by revealing whether or not you have high blood pressure. For this reason, the Blood Pressure Association urged (and continues to urge) everyone to have a free blood pressure check to take the first step to reducing their risk of stroke and heart attack.
Know your Numbers in 2007 - Finding the Missing Millions
Finding the Missing Millions was the theme for KYN Week 2007, which took place from 10-16 September. 16 million people in the UK have high blood pressure, yet 5.3 million of them are unaware they have the condition and are unknowingly putting themselves at risk of stroke, heart attack and other related conditions. The BPA encouraged (and continues to encourage) every adult to take the opportunity to have a free blood pressure check to find these missing millions and reduce their risk.
More than 2,700 Pressure Stations across the UK offered free blood pressure checks and information during KYN Week 2007. The Blood Pressure Association would like to thank everyone who supported or took part in Know Your Numbers! Week 2007 - which was the BPA's biggest and most successful KYN event (until this year).
Click here to go through to the KYN 07 Results section
If you would like to order BPA resource packs to use during your own blood pressure testing event, email mhooley@sgul.ac.uk or call 020 8772 4992.
Links:
High blood pressure: Facts and figures
To register an interest in taking part in KYN Week 09
To see which major organisations took part in KYN Week 2008 click here