Did you know that 2.4 million Canadians are affected by heart disease and that it’s the second leading cause of death in Canada? February is heart health month, and our Safeway Pharmacy wants to help you reduce your risk of heart disease and increase your heart health knowledge.

What is heart disease? Heart disease refers to various types of heart conditions, such as a heart attack, stroke, heart failure, hypertension, or arrhythmia. Heart disease can affect men and women differently. Click HERE to learn more about heart health.

Pharmacy has changed roles when it comes to health care. Your local pharmacist is an educator, but also someone who is here to support you. Our Safeway Pharmacy teams can help you with heart health management and even prevention of heart disease. Here’s how they can help:

• A member of our pharmacy team can discuss alternative behaviours that will help prevent you from getting heart disease, such as having a well-balanced diet, active living or quitting smoking.
  • Our teams can connect you to resources such as Canada’s Food Guide or Physical Activity Guidelines.

• Our pharmacists can create a personalized care plan that’s specific to you! They’ll meet with you to review your health history and current medications. Together, you’ll develop a plan that is suited best to you.

• Medication reviews are a great way to understand your meds. Our teams can help you understand how the medications interact, with any side effects, and with goals to decrease the dosage of a medication.
  • Ask your local Safeway pharmacist about compliance packaging, which will help ensure that you take your prescriptions correctly and on time. We have a variety of innovative solutions.

• Your blood pressure plays an important role in preventing and managing heart disease. Our Safeway Pharmacies offers free blood pressure testing and results are available immediately.
  • The test is simple, painless, and takes only a minute or two. This allows you to be in control of your health!
  • Discuss your results with our pharmacists – we can assess your personal history and let you know if you need to take action.

Visit your local Safeway Pharmacy team and see how they can help with your heart health management.