Medical students offer free blood pressure checks in Abbotsford and Surrey

A group of medical students recently offered free blood pressure checks and vision screenings in Abbotsford and Surrey. They received $15,000 in grants through Taking It Global and used the funding to buy and distribute 350 blood pressure monitors to address hypertension in the South Asian community. They also gave about 900 care packages to people experiencing homelessness. The packages contained backpacks, scarves, socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, shaving kits and blankets, and were distributed on the streets and through organizations including Cyrus Centre and the Salvation Army.

The checks and screenings took place at Abbotsford Vaishno Devi Mandir and Kalgidhar Gurdwara, Gurdwara Sahib Dashmesh Darbar in Surrey, a Surrey community centre and the Canada Cup field hockey tournament in Surrey. The project’s main organizers were Abbotsford residents Sourav Arora, Tajveer Grewal, Prabnoor Johal and Sohail Loomba. Arora, Johal and Loomba study medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, while Grewal studies medicine at the University of B.C. All four graduated from high school in Abbotsford in 2022. Other UBC medical and dental students helped with some events, alongside the Punjabi Community Health Association.

Arora said the project drew attention to a broader health-care issue in the South Asian community. Many people screened, particularly seniors, newcomers, people on visitor visas and permanent residents, did not have a family doctor or know where to find routine care, he said. Many were taking medication prescribed in India without ongoing follow-up in B.C. Widespread language barriers also made it difficult to understand even the instructions for the blood pressure monitors being distributed.

The Abbotsford students have carried out several earlier charitable projects, including distributing care packages to people experiencing homelessness, filling and delivering backpacks to vulnerable youth, and running an online fundraising campaign in 2021 to help flood victims.