Free blood pressure tests were offered to community members recently as part of the May Measure Month (MMM) campaign.
Third year medicine students from Monash University were on hand in the Centrepoint arcade near Coles, Warragul to conduct the tests for anyone who wanted to participate.
MMM is a global blood pressure screening awareness campaign launched in 2017 by the International Society of Hypertension.

The society partners with organisations like Monash Health to highlight the importance of measuring blood pressure to raise awareness of the dangers posed by elevated blood pressure and hypertension. MMM aims to increase the numbers of participants aged over 18 getting their blood pressure checked and to give them tools to understand how high blood pressure can affect individual health.
On a broader level, MMM uses the data on inadequately treated hypertension to motivate governments to improve screening facilities and reduce the huge global burden of disease and death caused by raised blood pressure.
Since 2017, volunteers in more than 100 countries have screened people in cities, towns, and rural villages as part of the largest free public blood pressure screening programme in the world. All participants were made aware of their blood pressure, and anyone who registered as hypertensive was given advice about what they needed to do next.
High blood pressure is a major health concern in Australia with 11.6 per cent of the population reporting hypertension. However, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare one in three Australian adults have hypertension with only 30 per cent of these people having it adequately controlled.
Most alarming, three in four adults with high measured blood pressure were unaware they had hypertension. The condition is the main leading risk of heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, making early detection and management critical.
Gippsland has the unenviable status as having the fourth highest incidence of premature deaths (under 75) due to high blood pressure in the country. It also sits in ninth place for potentially avoidable deaths for people under 75. Only 40.2 per cent of Gippsland adults meet physical activity guidelines - the lowest of any Victorian region.
As well as Warragul, Monash Health set up screening stations in Sale and Traralgon to conduct testing. Seventeen students took part in the testing across the three towns.
Beyond the direct impact on public health, the MMM helped students with their own professional development.
Monash Rural Health Gippsland acting director Robert Dawson said "this experience is equipping our students with essential communication skills. Learning how to engage with patients in a real-world setting is just as important as mastering clinical techniques."