TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Extending its ongoing commitment to caregivers through the Caregiver-Friendly Pharmacy (CFP) program, and recognizing the significant toll COVID-19 has had on the caregiver community over the past year, Teva Canada today unveiled new resources and programming to support the mental health challenges caregivers often experience.
Introduced on National Caregiver Day, these added resources support and acknowledge the important role that Canada’s eight million caregivers play in providing unpaid care to a family member or friend with a physical, cognitive or mental health condition.
“A year into the pandemic, continued uncertainty and isolation have disrupted all our normal routines and made caregivers particularly vulnerable to mental health issues as they take on more responsibilities to keep loved ones safe. The need to provide tools and resources to help caregivers cope has never been greater,” says Teva Canada General Manager, Christine Poulin. “Faced with their own stresses as front-line workers, pharmacists continue to be a vital connection to caregivers, identifying and helping those who are overwhelmed and struggling. With the addition of new tools through the Caregiver-Friendly Pharmacy Program, pharmacists will be able to help caregivers cope better with the challenges of caring for those with chronic conditions and leverage their own resilience.”
Recent Teva research1 indicates 43 per cent of the global population identify themselves as caregivers, yet one-in-four (24 per cent) do not have enough support to properly care for the individual they care for. A further 22 per cent of respondents say they have altered their daily routine as a result of becoming a caregiver and 32 per cent say caring has taken a large emotional toll on them. A Statistics Canada report released in November 2020, also indicated that senior caregivers reported a number of unmet caregiving needs with 33 per cent indicating they would like information and advice and 29 per cent requiring help from a medical professional.2
Building Resiliency with Life Coach Robert Pardi
On National Caregiver Day, Teva Canada is pleased to be partnering with Huddol (Canada’s largest online caregiver support network that connects caregivers with peer and expert guidance) on a live virtual class – today at 12:00 PM EDT – with Journeys Mentor and former caregiver Robert Pardi as he conducts an introduction to the Moving Positively Through Change: Resilience Awakens 7-day Journey experience. Registration for the live class is free and available through Eventbrite at: TevaCanada.com
Pardi, a former investment banker and caregiver for 11 years to his wife who passed from breast cancer in 2009, chose to embrace change and transformed his life path to become a Life Coach to caregivers. Today he shares his philosophy on leveraging resilience and how to confront life challenges to use life instead of being used by life to empower other caregivers.
“Resilience is a skill that lies dormant in many of us, but one that we all have,” he says. “Beneath it is the ability to confront change and adapt to it in a positive way. This is especially important for caregivers to be able to broaden their perspective about their situation and see the opportunity in caregiving and not necessarily the loss or changes in their loved one or circumstances.”
Get 30 Days of Unlimited Access Free
Starting in the month of April, Teva Canada is offering free 30-day unlimited access to Huddol’s NEW Journeys App featuring Pardi’s guided 7-day Journey, Moving Positively Through Change: Resilience Awakens. Each half-hour Journey session helps participants navigate the feelings and internal conflicts of being a caregiver and provides the tools and information to help them better relate to their new realities and find greater meaning and purpose in their life.
“The pandemic has reminded us that life is fragile, particularly when we are holding a life in our hands and caring for a family member or friend who is vulnerable. What we are creating through Huddol Journeys is a digital space that empowers caregivers to thrive in adversity – a prescription for human transformation,” said Huddol CEO Mark Stolow.
To access the Teva Canada sponsored free 30-day trial of the Huddol Journeys App and the Moving Positively Through Change: Resilience Awakens Journey, visit: journeys.huddol.com/teva-cares
Life Effects - The Most Powerful Words of All
Teva Canada’s NEW Life Effects website provides resources written by real people navigating life with one or more chronic conditions. Their shared stories offer information, insight, and inspiration about the lived experience. This advice is especially meaningful and inspiring to patients and their caregivers, recognizing that words from someone who’s been there are the most powerful of all.
With personal insights and guidance from over 35 contributors living with a chronic condition, people can explore a mix of articles, videos, and podcasts on a variety of conditions including anxiety; asthma; cancer: cardiovascular disease; caregiving; COPD; depression; migraine and MS. The stories are vetted by medical experts prior to publishing and provide unique perspectives from patients around the world with new stories published monthly.
“There is such value and shared sense of empathy to be able to tap into real life stories – whether it be for comfort and understanding or advice and practical tips for living with the condition,” says Lori Mann, Associate Director, Marketing Communications for Teva Canada. “Life Effects gives patients and their caregivers a sense of community and comfort as they relate to, and learn from, the experiences of people who have actually been there.”
The content on Life Effects is non-promotional and avoids mention of treatment or classes of treatment. Stories are vetted by medical experts prior to publishing and provide the personal perspectives of patients and caregivers from around the world. With the launch in Canada, Life Effects content is now available in 12 markets (in 11 different languages). Though some details may not be relevant to the Canadian healthcare system, the contributors’ lived experiences, feelings and perspectives are relevant and universal no matter where a person lives.
Explore Life Effects at: TevaCanada.com/LifeEffects
Watch the inspirational Notes of Hope video – Reminding us of the power of shared experience: TevaCanada.com
About the Teva Canada Caregiver-Friendly Pharmacy
In 2019 Teva Canada launched the Caregiver Friendly Pharmacy (CFP) program – a national program that supports caregivers with online tools and resources and empowers pharmacists to identify and engage with caregivers.
The CFP includes:
- Accredited training for pharmacy teams (over 2,500 pharmacists have completed the continuing education);
-
Downloadable Online Caregiver resources used by over a quarter of a million Canadians including:
- a caregiver handbook, helping you navigate the healthcare system
- a caregiver self-assessment, which asks, “how are you doing through all of this?”
- guides that offer a caregiver’s perspective on cancer, dementia, multiple sclerosis and HIV/AIDS
- tools to share with healthcare professionals, making it easier to keep everyone informed
- power of attorney forms, allowing you to communicate openly with members of the healthcare team
- links to caregiver and patient support organizations in your community
- links to helpful apps for caregivers
- a search tool to find a local pharmacy that has been trained to support caregivers.
Additional resources include emotive videos of caregiver stories and a cancer podcast series on living with cancer.
All of Teva Canada’s downloadable resources for caregivers can be found at: TevaCanada.com/Caregivers
About Teva Canada
Teva Canada, headquartered in Toronto, has provided affordable healthcare solutions to Canadians for over 50 years, building their trust one prescription at a time with now more than 192,0003 prescriptions filled each day with our products, representing 1 of every 8 generic prescriptions in Canada4. Originally Novopharm Limited, Teva Canada specializes in the development, production, and marketing of high-quality generic prescription pharmaceuticals and, through our branded division, focuses on a diverse line of speciality and biopharmaceutical products in a variety of therapeutic areas such as central nervous system (CNS), respiratory, oncology and rheumatology. Teva Canada’s commitment to helping improve the lives of Canadians also extends to the Teva Caregiver program – providing tools and resources for Canadians navigating the care journey. Teva Canada employs more than 900 professionals, had sales of nearly $1.1 billion5 in 2020, and markets more than 3606 products in over 840 SKUs4 in Canada. We are a proud subsidiary of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. Learn more at www.tevacanada.com.
About Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE and TASE: TEVA) has been developing and producing medicines to improve people’s lives for more than a century. We are a global leader in generic and specialty medicines with a portfolio consisting of over 3,500 products in nearly every therapeutic area. Around 200 million people around the world take a Teva medicine every day, and are served by one of the largest and most complex supply chains in the pharmaceutical industry. Along with our established presence in generics, we have significant innovative research and operations supporting our growing portfolio of specialty and biopharmaceutical products. Learn more at www.tevapharm.com.
____________________
1 Teva 2019 ESG Progress Report | Contributing to Healthy Communities
2 Source: Statistics Canada - 2018 General Social Survey (GSS) – Caregiving and Receiving | Released November 24, 2020 | Accessed March 2021
3 Source: IQVIA CDH Compuscript TRx MAT Dec 2020
4 Source: IQVIA Compuscript Trx MAT 2020.12
5 Source: IQVIA CDH & Compuscript MAT Dec 2020
6 Source: Teva Price list March 2, 2021
