- Blood pressure and A1c say more about your health than almost anything else.
- Both checks take minutes, and neither requires skipping breakfast.
- They're free at every Prism event, evenings and weekends included.
You don't need a full lab workup to know where your health stands. Two quick checks, blood pressure and A1c, tell most of the story. Both take minutes, and both are free at our events.
A blood pressure check in the community
Number one: blood pressure
Blood pressure is the push of blood against your arteries. It's written as two numbers, like 120 over 80, and for most adults, below 120/80 is the healthy zone.
High blood pressure usually has no symptoms. That's what makes it dangerous: it quietly strains your heart, brain, and kidneys for years. The only way to know is to check with a painless arm cuff, about one minute.
Number two: A1c
A1c is a simple finger-stick test that shows your average blood sugar over the past three months. For most people without diabetes, an A1c below 5.7% is normal. Higher numbers can mean prediabetes or diabetes, and catching that early makes all the difference.
Good news: you don't need to skip breakfast. A1c works fine even if you've eaten, which is why we can check it on the spot at any event.
Why we keep saying this
In Illinois, 12% of adults now live with diabetes, up from under 10% a decade ago, and 44% of adults live with more than one chronic condition. High blood pressure and diabetes are the quiet drivers behind most preventable emergency room visits.
The pattern we see is always the same: no time off work, a trusted clinic that closed, a checkup that keeps getting pushed. Years pass. The first warning becomes the emergency room.
Twenty minutes, no judgment
At any Prism event, you can get both numbers checked free, plus a real conversation about what they mean for you, and help finding a regular doctor if you don't have one. Many of our events run evenings and weekends, on purpose.
If it's been a while since anyone checked, you're exactly who we're there for.
Most services at our community events are free. No appointment or insurance needed, and walk-ups are welcome.