New Website Provides Inside Perspective and Shared Experiences on Living With Chronic Illness

For Canadians living with chronic health conditions, there are challenges and experiences that only those who have lived them can really understand. Foremost amongst them, is finding a support system that can provide trusted, practical information and advice from those with first-hand experience.

Teva Canada has responded with the new Life Effects website. Known for its commitment to caregivers through its Caregiver Friendly-Pharmacy program that provides supportive tools and resources to caregivers, Teva Canada has extended its efforts to provide patients with chronic conditions and their caregivers, new insights into their health that could be achieved only through an awareness from people with the same experiences.

“A long-term chronic patient’s needs go far beyond fully understanding the diagnosis and the biology of the condition itself. They not only want to know how their condition impacts their life today and tomorrow – but also need to know what practical steps they can take to help them cope on a day-to-day basis,” said Christine Poulin, Teva Canada’s General Manager. “Life Effects is written by real people living with one or more chronic conditions.

Their shared stories are meaningful since words from someone who’s been there are the most powerful of all.”

Equipped with insight, support and advice, contributors provide articles, videos and podcasts on a variety of conditions.  There are currently nine health topics on Teva Canada’s Life Effects website including: anxiety, asthma, cancer, cardiovascular, caregiving, COPD, depression, migraine and multiple sclerosis.  The stories are vetted by medical experts prior to publishing and provide unique perspectives from patients around the world with new stories published monthly.

 

Life Effects articles offer rich, personal perspectives that address both mental and physical challenges that patients and caregivers can relate to and learn from.  For example in one article, Barbara Moore, a 65-year-old bookkeeper with COPD from Ontario, offers guidance on how to handle unwanted advice about her condition. In another, Marc Lawrence, who became a caregiver to his wife at age 49, writes about “4 Ways Caregivers Must Adjust to the ‘New Normal’ in Isolation”; Todd Seals, an advocate for prostate cancer awareness, provides “5 Tips to Cope with Fatigue during Cancer Treatment”.

 

Other articles like “How I Use Self-Care with MS to Stave off Bouts of Depression”, “5 Ways Caregivers Can Help after a Heart Attack”, and “Coping with Survivors’ Guilt and Cancer” are a few examples of topics that are very specific in nature and address the types of issues that are on the minds of those living with health challenges.

“The beauty in these expressions from our panel of patient contributors, is the authenticity in the content and the empathy in which they’re delivered. The stories come from a place of resilience and kindness,” says Lori Mann, Associate Director, Marketing Communications for Teva Canada. “Our contributors are very focused on providing specific content that both patients and their caregivers can identify with. We’re proud that these stories resonate with so many patients and provide insights to a shared experience for caregivers who are by their side.”

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Explore Life Effects: TevaCanada.com/LifeEffects   

Access Caregiver Resources: TevaCanada.com/Caregivers

Watch Teva Canada’s inspirational Notes of Hope video and discover the power of shared experience.