E-Health gets a shot in the arm with Heart and Stroke Foundation/TELUS partnership

Vancouver, BC, May 31, 2010 - The Heart and Stroke Foundation has taken a major step towards helping Canadians access and manage their heart health with the newly-launched TELUS health space. Through a partnership between the foundation and TELUS, this secure web-based platform will include unique applications to encourage personal health record-keeping and the ability to self-assess several heart health-related conditions.

“This venture with TELUS Health Solutions allows important heart health information to be easily accessed by millions of Canadians,” says David Sculthorpe, CEO, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Ontario. “Knowledge is power. We know that an informed Canadian will be much more pro-active about managing their heart health and that of their families.

“When we were approached to have our e-tool connected with TELUS health space, we knew it would put Canadians in the driver’s seat, allowing them to actively manage their own health condition and improve the doctor-patient relationship.”

The new service allows Canadians to securely collate health information from multiple sources in one place: including physicians’ offices, pharmacies and on-line etools.

The first Foundation etool to be featured is My Heart&Stroke Blood Pressure Action Plan™. This personalized etool enables people to enter and track their blood pressure readings, warns them when their blood pressure requires medical attention, and tracks their prescriptions and healthcare appointments. Users are encouraged to print out graphs tracking their blood pressure and medication use, allowing them to review their progress and to discuss with their physicians.

Once the user authorizes the connection between the My Heart&Stroke Blood Pressure Action Plan™ and TELUS health space, health information (such as blood pressure readings) will be available for viewing and tracking by anyone authorized by the user, such as their family doctor and cardiologist. This allows the tracking and easy sharing of health information in one place, even if it comes from multiple sources, for example the doctor’s office, community pharmacy, or even a medical device.

Over the year, the Heart and Stroke Foundation will connect other applications with TELUS health space, starting with the My Heart&Stroke Healthy Weight Action Plan™ (a program helping people maintain a healthy weight).

Since 2000, the Heart and Stroke Foundation has been a pioneer in using the Internet to deliver innovative, evidence-based health promotion and disease self-management resources. In addition to a large inventory of patient and professional resources, the Foundation has developed a number of unique, interactive etools. To date, over 400,000 users have used the Foundation’s etools.

For more information:
Elissa Freeman
Heart and Stroke Foundation
416 565-5605

Sharon Edwards Heart and Stroke Foundation
416 937-5307