A SPECIAL day to heighten public awareness of the dangers of strokes is being held in Okehampton next month.
The Stroke Awareness Day is being supported by Okehampton Rotary Club and it will take place in the Charter Hall, Okehampton.
It is one of many similar events being held by Rotary clubs throughout the UK.
Club president Bob Horsley said: ?We have learned that high blood pressure is the largest single preventable cause of a stroke.
?It is estimated that four out of ten deaths due to stroke could have been prevented if high blood pressure had been diagnosed and properly controlled.?
Bob said to help reduce these figures, club members and trained medical staff will be providing free blood pressure checks to anyone who drops in to the Charter Hall between 9am and 12.30pm on Saturday April 5.
People who come to the hall will also be given a card advising them of their blood pressure reading and leaflets on how to prevent the chances of a stroke.
More than 100,000 people have a stroke in Britain and Ireland every year and of these, nearly 200 people will die.
Stroke is also the single largest cause of severe disability ? and nationally, more than 300,000 people are living with a disability caused by a stroke at any one time.
It is estimated that strokes cost the NHS around £2.3 billion every year.