The Wichita Public Library is now loaning out kits that allow customers to monitor their blood pressure at home.

The kits are available under a partnership with the Sedgwick County Health Department, the Sedgwick County Extension Office and the American Heart Association.  The kits are the newest addition to the “Library of Things.”

Each kit has a blood pressure monitor, a log book, a pre-survey and an instruction booklet.  Library customers can check them out for 14 days, the standard length for most materials in the “Library of Things.”

In addition to the kits, customers can also find books related to heart health, including:

·         Caring For Loved Ones with Heart Disease by J Shah, MD

·         Healthy Heart, Healthy Brain: The Proven Personalized Path to Protect Your Memory, Prevent Heart Attacks and Strokes, and Avoid Chronic Illness by Bradley Bale, MD and Amy Doneen, DNP with Lisa Collier Cool

·         Mayo Clinic on High Blood Pressure: Your Personal Guide to Managing Hypertension by Gary L. Schwartz, MD

·         The 30-Day Heart Tune-Up: A Breakthrough Medical Plan to Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease by Steven Masley, MD

The funding for the monitors was provided by the Wichita Medical Research and Education Foundation.   Customers can place holds on the monitors through the web site www.wichitalibrary.org/things