A week in my. . . ‘Once people start talking it’s amazing what they tell you’

Awareness programmes

My weeks vary greatly. Some days I might be working on a health-awareness programme. This is usually in a public area such as a shopping centre, a community hall or in the canteen of a large company. In this situation, my role would be to give people information about heart health and maybe check their blood pressure.

Some days I hold health-awareness days in community centres. This is usually just for a few hours in the middle of the day and all I have to do before meeting clients is set up the leaflets and the blood pressure machine, so this doesn’t take too long to organise.

Some people want advice about cholesterol and others might want to find out about stress management or to get help with giving up smoking. Others want me to check their blood pressure and I give them a card with their reading on it and explain what it means. If it was outside the normal values, I would refer them to their GP to have it rechecked.

So basically, I am on hand to answer their questions and support the advice with booklets about all aspects of heart disease that the Irish Heart Foundation [IHF] has published. As well as doing the health-awareness days, I also do mini health checks. In any given week I could be working in a bank, an insurance company or a large office checking out the employees' health. Each client has a 15-minute appointment with me, during which I record their blood pressure, height and weight to get their body mass index, and I also measure their waistlines.

All the results are then written on cards, discussed with the client and a written record is given to each person.

If any of the recordings are out of the normal range, I refer them to their GP for further testing.

I also answer questions about heart health and advise about how to maintain a healthy heart and lifestyle.

During each 15-minute appointment I have time to talk about lifestyle changes, which would include giving up smoking, getting more physical exercise, reducing weekly alcohol intake, reducing salt intake and, depending on their age and family history, whether they should have their cholesterol checked out.

Giving up smoking

I also do full health checks so during the same working week I go to different companies and see a list of employees for a 30-minute appointment.

First I have to take a small sample of blood to check their cholesterol and blood sugar levels. Then I check blood pressure and pulse, as well as height, weight and waist measurement. I also talk to each client about stress levels, physical activity, alcohol intake and smoking. If the client is a smoker, I can check the level of carbon monoxide in their lungs. I will ask if they have any interest in giving up cigarettes and if they have I can give them information about how to access a smoking-cessation programme.

While taking the blood sample and preparing it for the machine, I will answer any questions they have about any aspect of heart health, check whether they are on any kind of medication, and ask about their family history.

This is important as it can be very relevant to their own health.

At the end of the check I offer booklets about heart health, which the client can take to read. There is also information on the website or they can phone the nurse helpline.

No two days are the same in my job, really. Sometimes I have to travel to Dublin and sometimes I can work locally in the south- east, maybe in Carlow or Kilkenny. If I am doing a full day of screening, I will work from 9am to 5pm and then there is travel time on top of that.

Set-up and quality control

I aim to get to whatever company I am working with for about 8.45am. I have to find the contact person who shows me to the room where the screening is to take place.

Usually by this point, all the equipment and leaflets have arrived by courier the previous day. So the first thing I do is unpack everything, set up all the equipment and perform basic quality control tests to check it is all working properly.

I see the first person at 9.30am. I continue seeing people until about 4.30pm and then I have to ensure that everything is cleaned and repacked into the suitcase ready for collection and delivery to the next destination.

The chat is the best part

The best part of my job is chatting to all the clients and hearing all their stories when I am doing the health checks. All I have to say is “How are you today?” and once people start talking, it’s amazing what they tell you.

Someone might be on medication and I need to chat to them about that.

Sometimes they have been prescribed certain medication but have not been taking it so I have to try to tease out the reason behind that.

Sometimes they forget, or they run out of tablets, or they can’t afford them – or they just think they don’t need them any more. But I have to explain gently that they have been prescribed them for a reason so they need to keep doing what their GP advised them to do.

Having said all that, I don’t think there is any difficult part of my job because usually I am dealing with healthy people.

Occasionally I would see somebody with very high blood pressure and would advise them to go to see their GP within the next 24 hours.

But other than that, I am mainly giving advice. Linda Kidd is expressing her personal views in this article and does not speak for her colleagues or for her employer.

Out of hours

I am 54 years and live in Carlow with my husband, Ivan. We have two boys: Malcolm is 22 and Jonathan is 17.

I have been working in various jobs since I qualified as a nurse in January 1982, and I have worked as a part-time health screening nurse with the Irish Heart Foundation (IHF) since 2008.

No two working days are the same and on my days off, I like to go for a walk along the River Barrow, pictured above, or go to play a round of golf or two.

I also like reading, cooking and baking.

I really enjoy having such a varied role and the fact that I get to advise so many people on how to stay healthy.