Hypertension runs in the family and so does the greater population in the country. Thing is, you can actually have this condition for years and never even feel it - which makes it quite dangerous as it could cause more health problems including heart disease. Pumping blood into your system is a normal thing, but once those veins, arteries become narrow because of things you eat (hello cholesterol), you would have high blood pressure which won’t be good for your body. This is one of the reasons people experience severe headaches, nose bleeds. fatigue, vision issues, difficulty breathing, chest pain or irregular heartbeat or stroke. I’ve seen some of my relatives suffer the same fate, and as they say, it takes a village to actually get rid of it. We need to understand that it can be attributed to age, race, family history, obesity, your physical activity, smoking, if you eat with too much salt, if you have less potassium, if you're alcoholic, if you undergo too much stress or have other chronic conditions like diabetes.
People could suffer a heart attack, aneurysm, heart failure, kidney failure, vision loss, so it is so important to always seek the help of a medical professional. Doctors are the only ones who can diagnose and recommend steps on how you can battle this disease and early detection does really count. Now, my whole family tries to keep our diet in check. Albeit all of us are obese, we try to include vegetables in our plates, less fat, less salt. It is a lifetime commitment, just like how Sanofi does with their #PanataNgPamilya, #PanatangSanofi program. Their thrust is to bring forth more holistic healthcare support and awareness with Diabetes, Hypertension and Chronic Kidney Disease. They know how important proper nutrition and physical activity is and this is part of their goal to create a healthier Philippines. We need to make sure we do our part too by making sure all suggestions by doctors are being followed at home. Sanofi also wants to ultimately bridge that gap between Filipinos and healthcare which is why they partnered with doctors, patients and healthcare providers so they can help the general public gain access to holistic solutions and innovations to rid of this chronic disease.
One of their programs is called Healthier PH Sessions and it is being held quite frequently so the public and medical professionals can discuss how to manage our family's health. They also know how important it is to change the lifestyle and go for healthy habits and teach that in every session. Aside from that, they have WeHealth. It's a Health Hub that connects patients and doctors done online. This proved to be safe even now in the new normal. With it, you can get medical consultations anytime of the day (or as scheduled) or have your medicines delivered straight to your home. This is very convenient especially for those who wouldn't want to go to hospitals or outside as the threat of COVID- 19 still exists.
They have connected with providers like SeriousMD, AIDE, KonsultaMD and Medifi as their tele-health providers so you can still ask doctors for medical advice and get their medicine from pharmaceutical partners like Watson’s and SouthStar Drug if they need prescription or over the counter medicine delivered to their own homes. This is perfect for those with diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases because they got to take care of themselves every day. Then recently, they have developed the Empower Patient Support Program which gives continuous care and medical education for Diabetes patients. It has one year of coverage. They also have paperless online enrollment for those who have Type 2 Diabetes (upon recommendation of a doctor) wherein they get a diabetes kit upon enrollment. In it, they have the capability to merge online patient education and access to diabetes educators so you can stay in touch and do weekly monitoring. You can check for your blood glucose levels at a more constant pace and tell medical experts about it on their tele-medicine platform.
Now, there’s no more excuse for Filipinos who don’t want to visit their doctors. That reluctance has been happening for years and it just becomes so difficult to treat patients when you don’t have a medical professional drawing your path to health. You now have access to information, education, a doctor and even pharmacies with Sanofi’s work, that is a good thing.
It only means that no one should be left behind.
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