Business was brisk when the Rotary-backed mherv was parked outside the Westpac Bank in Cootamundra last Sunday and Monday.

Mr Woolley gave health checks to 60 people, including seven women, nine more than were seen during the van's first visit to Coota last year.

In two cases, Mr Woolley advised his guests to seek immediate medical attention.

He recommended to another 33 that they see a doctor as soon as possible.

The remaining 25 passed their routine examination with flying colours.

Qualified as a registered nurse, Mr Woolley thinks he "comes across" differently than a GP, able to translate technical terms into language people understand straight away.

"GPs sometimes use technical terms and people are a bit reluctant to come back and ask them exactly what they mean," he said at the end of his two-day visit to Cootamundra on Monday afternoon.

Another important difference is that he can give on-the-spot readings from a pinprick blood sample obtained from a finger tip.

"Until two years ago you had to go to a doctor to get these tests done," he said.

"Now we have these small hand-held machines that do almost the same job pathology labs do, giving surprisingly accurate measurements, in particular of blood sugar and blood cholesterol levels, in just a few minutes.

"It means that in a consultation lasting just five to ten minutes I can look at people's results and say to them 'if they were my results I would to and see a doctor real soon because you might be heading for a heart attack or a stroke'."

Using just one pin prick of blood, Mr Woolley inserts tabs into cholesterol and blood sugar machines no bigger than a computer mouse.

While the machines are doing their measurements, he takes his visitor's blood pressure and pulse and tells them a story about milk.

Why milk? Because quite often the feelings associated with heart troubles are similar to indigestion, or "heartburn".

"The heart is generally not like a light switch which suddenly turns off," he says.

"Early on in heart troubles there's a lot of indigestion-type pain and you can take milk to tell whether what you're suffering is really indigestion or is an early warning from your heart.

"The fat in a cold glass of milk will soothe the stomach and the discomfort will be gone, if it's your gut.

"But if you have milk and it doesn't help, it could be that your ticker needs looking at.

"You don't have to use milk - ice cream, yoghurt, even soda water will do.

"I try to get people to be more proactive in looking for the signs - not just going for a lie-down after lunch because they don't feel so good.

"These are the kind of things doctors don't touch on - but I advise people to go and see a doctor if they have these tell-tale signs."

The three areas Mr Woolley concentrates on are blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol - in particular, he says, the cholesterol as "a huge part of what I do".

Mr Woolley is often asked why the sign outside the van also says that women are welcome, as women are generally more proactive at keeping an eye on their health than men.

"One reason we welcome women is that when women come in they get a sheet of paper with numbers on and often get their men to come in too to go through the same exercise," he said.

"At places like Bunnings they say 'go on, it only takes a few minutes' and it becomes a fun thing, otherwise he goes home and says everything's OK and it's not."

The mherv van is a project of the Rotary Club of Narromine and the Rotary district 9670. The van was manned by several Rotary volunteers who spoke with passers by and helped with reading matter and got visitors to fill in forms before seeing the nurse.

Its next visits will be to Yass on Thursday and Friday, followed by two-day visits to Tumut, Cooma and Merimbula. For contact go to mherv.com.au.