Managing Your Meds: How to Make it Easier and More Affordable

As we age, chronic health conditions often seem to become a bigger part of our lives. Conditions like heart disease, diabetes, COPD and arthritis can have an impact on our quality of life as they progress. It’s not uncommon to hear aging adults joke that they “swallow their breakfast”, making light of the fact that they take a fistfull of medications. It might seem silly but taking a “handful of medication” is not as uncommon as you might think. In fact, in Canada when it comes to prescription drugs,  ⅔ of seniors take 5 or more, and ¼ take 10 or more, and 8.4% take 15 or more medications (CIHI, 2016). With multiple medications, managing your health can become difficult, time-consuming, and expensive. The coordination of getting prescriptions from your doctor, refilling them and keeping them all organized, can be quite a pill (pardon the pun). It is not surprising to hear that less than 50% of Canadians are compliant with their medications.

Managing Your Meds Can be Time Consuming:

Getting a prescription filled in the traditional way can take up a lot of your time. You have to drive to the pharmacy, wait for your prescriptions to be filled and might have to return later if your medications are not in stock. Coordinating your prescriptions gets more complicated the more medications you take, which can lead to additional inconvenient trips to the pharmacy.

Convenience, Cost and Care Improved with Technology:

The pandemic has increased the need for pharmacies to adopt safer dispensing methods and automation. Those that have adapted, it has allowed them to free up more time for pharmacists to answer any questions or concerns that you might have. Seniors are embracing this change with open arms as they are the ones who could benefit the most from these newer services. It is exciting that you can now stay home and have the entire pharmacy brought to you wherever you are and at more affordable prices, all thanks to technology and automation.

Exciting New Products and Services Revolutionizing Pharmacy:

Single Dose Packs:

Do you have trouble organizing your prescriptions? Have your meds sorted by date and time in single dose packs. The packs are easy to open and replace the need for “hard-to-open” bottles or bulky blister packs. Single dose packs conveniently fit in your pocket or purse allowing you to take them wherever you go. Single dose packs are available at no additional cost to the patient.

Free Delivery Anywhere You Want:

The traditional model and geographic constraints for pharmacy are no more thanks to affordable shipping prices. In fact, FREE next day delivery is available for all prescriptions anywhere you go, whether it is your home, work or cottage.

Automatic Refills:

Enjoy the luxury and comfort of having prescriptions refilled and delivered automatically for you. Pharmacies can even take care of contacting your doctor for you to get more refills authorized. Pharmacy has never been simpler. Just relax, lay back and your meds will arrive magically for you.

Medication Information Access:

You also have real time access to your medication information and history, wherever you are, on your computer, tablet or cell phone. This is an important safety feature and helps eliminate medication errors as it allows you to share your up-to-date drug list with other health professions (hospitals, doctors, dentist ect..). Access to your medication via a safe and secure online portal allows prescriptions to be ordered with a single click of a button.

Caregiver Support:

Managing meds just got easier as family and friends can be linked to a single account. You can now provide a helping hand to order and manage your loved ones prescriptions. There are many other exciting technologies for helping to manage medications, such as reminder programs or personal health companions. If you would like to learn more please click here.

Cost Savings for C.A.R.P. Members:

The Health Depot Pharmacy saves you money. This is why they are offering C.A.R.P. members a preferred dispensing fee rate and savings on 10,000 items in their health store.

• Seniors on the Ontario Drug Benefit (ODB) program pay a max $6.11 $2.99 or $2.00 $0 copay per prescription.
• No drug coverage? Ask us how you save with our CARP-preferred $9.99 $6.99 dispensing fee
• Shop their online health store with over 10,000 health essentials.
• Use CARP20 for 20% off your first health store order – also receive 5% off all future health store orders!

Visit The Health Depot’s website or give them a call today to start the conversation on how The Health Depot Pharmacy can help make managing your meds both easier and more affordable to C.A.R.P. members.

Call:  1-855-844-2242