“I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship..”
While this may have been one of the most memorable exit lines in movie history, it serves as the perfect introduction to the Heart and Stroke Foundation’s new ‘friendship’ with TELUS health space. Whenever I speak about this new alliance though, I have been met with my fair share of quizzical looks.
But truly, it’s the perfect fit.
As one of Canada’s largest health charities, the Heart and Stroke Foundation helps prevent people from getting heart disease and stroke in the first place. The more people we reach with our prevention messages, the more we can empower Canadians to take care of their own heart health.
In 2000, the Foundation was one of the first health non-profits to dive into health e-tool development as a way to deliver innovative, evidence-based disease management resources. The Heart&Stroke Risk Assessment & Heart&Stroke Blood Pressure Action Plan™ now has more than 440,000 users, while the newer My Heart&Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan™ has more than 21,000 registered users since February 2010.
Yet, it’s not enough just to be a subject matter expert these days and hope that people will find you. You need to seek out all distribution channels available to get your message out.
You need critical mass.
You need to be where the people are.
And these days, people are on the internet via home computers, Blackberries and smart phones.
And that’s what TELUS Health Solutions provides the Foundation: a web based consumer e-health service that will reach Canadians from coast-to-coast. Both of our e-tools are now part of an ecosystem of applications available on TELUS health space, which means that we will be able to reach more Canadians than ever before.
Let’s face it, e-health is a bit of a hot button issue these days. However,having control over one’s own health information, or those of their loved ones, is something Canadians want now and in the future, especially given the fragmented state of today’s healthcare system.
The notion of putting Canadians in the driver’s seat, allowing them to actively manage their own health conditions, and improving the doctor-patient relationship is truly a win-win situation for us all.
