Blood Pressure Screenings at a Farmers\u27 Market: A Pilot Study

The aim of this study is to assess a hospital farmers market located at an urban academic medical center as a community-based venue for blood pressure screening, health education, and disease management. Blood pressure screenings were held monthly at the Jefferson Farmers’ Market in 2011. Participants had two recorded elevated pressures (\u3e121/80 without history of hypertension or \u3e140/90 with known history of hypertension). Participants in the study were asked to complete a behavioral survey and a personal action plan. The screener/researcher contacted each participant via phone or e-mail two weeks after the screening to determine their success with their action plan, compliance with recommendations/referrals, and to remind them about attending the next blood pressure screening. There were a total of 20 participants in the study. 35% of participants were community residents, 55% of participants were employees and 10% of participants were patients. 2 visits were the average number of visits to the blood pressure screening. 65% of participants followed-up: 70% of the possible follow up visits were attended, 92% that followed-up reported following their action plan. 8 participants had improvement in their blood pressure, 7 had improvement in both systolic and diastolic. The overall mean blood pressure improved from hypertension (140/90) to pre-hypertension (134/87). There was not a significant correlation between blood pressure improvement and the number of return visits. The study showed that farmers’ markets on an urban hospital campus are a viable venue for health education and disease prevention, more study needs to be done to show the viability of hospital-based farmers’ market as a venue for disease management. Presentation: 21 minute