Their day starts bright and early: Saturday, 7 am. On a good day, the snooze button remains untouched. It may be the weekend for identical twins Sonali and Maya Chu, but there’s a car to load and a booth to set up. The daughters of two doctors, Sonali and Maya have been offering free blood pressure tests to people in the Chula Vista community for almost two years.
Chula Vista residents themselves, you can find them on Saturdays at their booth at the Spring Valley Swap Meet where they provide free checks using automated blood pressure monitors for anyone who stops by. The swap meet is the perfect spot for their mobile booth: highly visible in a comfortable environment that is accessible to everyone. Families, tourists, immigrants, and other swap meet vendors all pass through the market and get their blood pressure checked.
High blood pressure affects roughly 1 in 3 adults in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It is called the “silent killer” because often there are no symptoms. Sonali and Maya say many people they test who have high blood pressure don’t know they do.
“We wanted to bring information about high blood pressure to our community, in a way many people could access, which is why we set up a booth at our local swap meet,” the twins wrote on their website, whatsyourbloodpressure.com. Sonali and Maya set up the website to provide additional sources of information and post data from their many checks that act as an informal snapshot of blood pressure health in the Spring Valley and Chula Vista areas.
A pie chart on their site shows the results: “A majority of those who checked their blood pressure had Stage 1 or Stage 2 hypertension, and for most, they were unaware of it.” There are four stages of hypertension (high blood pressure)—elevated, stage 1, stage 2, and critical.
“We want to help the community understand what high blood pressure means and offer ways to help them manage it. Hopefully, we can make a change in people’s lives,” says Sonali.
More than half of the Chula Vista community is Hispanic or Latinx, and the twins put their Spanish skills to the test each time they open their booth. They’ve learned the vocabulary necessary to administer the tests and offer information about area health clinics that can provide low-cost medical care for those without health insurance. An estimated 205,000 undocumented immigrants are living in the San Diego area, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune, none of whom are eligible for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.
On display next to the blood pressure monitors are pamphlets in both English and Spanish with information about high blood pressure and how to maintain healthy diets, backed by the American Heart Association. People don’t always need medication, says Maya, they can manage their high blood pressure through a healthy diet and physical activity.
Making healthy choices that limit added sugars and salts can help people maintain healthy blood pressure. The American Heart Association and American Academy of Pediatrics just issued new recommendations to curb the amount of sugar children consume, even calling for soda taxes to help limit consumption of what the organizations say increases kids’ risk for high blood pressure, dental decay, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other life-threatening conditions.
Maya and Sonali set out models that show how much salt and sugar are hidden in popular foods and drinks. They say when parents are getting their blood pressure checked, kids and teens take a look at these models and many are surprised by what they see.
“People just want to be heard. They come and sit down and we just talk—about their diets, what they’re doing to manage their high blood pressure. We give them positive reinforcement and a listening ear. Sometimes, that’s all people need. That’s something I’ve really learned from this experience.”
“The models really impact young people,” says Sonali. When it comes to leading a heart-healthy lifestyle, she says they talk to parents and their kids about why it’s important to start early.
Through their work with the community, however, the two have learned that sometimes the most important thing is to simply listen.
“People just want to be heard. They come and sit down and we just talk—about their diets, what they’re doing to manage their high blood pressure. We give them positive reinforcement and a listening ear. Sometimes, that’s all people need. That’s something I’ve really learned from this experience,” says Maya.
“We wanted to do something that actually impacted our community instead of showing up at a food bank once or twice just to get community engagement hours,” adds Sonali.
Both Sonali and Maya want to pursue careers in the medical field after they graduate from Parker in June. “We’re interested in the same thing. We bounce ideas off of each other and collaborate. We both have the same passion. We just get each other. Maybe that’s an identical twin thing” says Maya.
Whether they choose the path of physician or researcher, the two want to make a meaningful difference in their communities.
“In whichever community we end up,” says Maya, “we can look for issues facing them and do whatever we can to help.”
