Travelling Health Fair 2024: A heart health retrospective

We had over 100 attendees, across five locations, taking part in the 10^th anniversary of the Travelling Health Fair. 

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Everyone who attended received a one-on-one heart health assessment with our UBC pharmacy students and pharmacists, thanks to the unique partnership between the UBC Pharmacists Clinic and UBC HR's Health, Wellbeing & Benefits team.

It was great to see some familiar faces return for this year’s THF, but we were even more delighted by all the new faculty and staff who attended this event for the first time. It isn’t always easy to get a spot, as the sessions book up fast!  

It's a great event — please continue offering it every year! I think it's not a valuable experience for employees, but a great opportunity for students to learn and to connect with staff and faculty. —THF attendee

Continuing the heart health learning journey 

In addition to the in-person event this year we also hosted a webinar to share more information and knowledge about heart health and cardiovascular disease prevention. In case you missed the live webinar, a recording of the session is now available 

Travelling Health Fair heart health webinar with Adrian Ziemczonek 

The webinar included some great in-depth details, regarding risk factors for cardiovascular disease, and how we can optimize our cardiovascular health. If you are short of time or just curious about what the pharmacists covered, here is a roundup of the key takeaways from the 2024 Travelling Health Fair. As always, it’s important to contact your healthcare provider to better understand your risk factors for cardiovascular disease.  

Cardiovascular health is the second leading cause of death in Canada after cancer:  

• More than 62,000 strokes occur in Canada year and this number continues to rise.  
• 8 in 10 cases of premature health disease and stroke are preventable through making healthy lifestyle choices  

Types of cardiovascular diseases discussed in the webinar include: 

• Coronary heart disease: disease of blood vessels supplying the heart e.g., heart attack, angina 
• Cerebrovascular disease: disease of blood vessels supplying the brain: e.eg stroke, vascular cognitive impartments  

Cardiovascular disease prevention 

• Cholesterol: are fat-like substances produced naturally by your body and can be found in the bloodstream and cells. 
• Cholesterol is part of a healthy body, it isn’t all bad! However, we need low-density lipoprotein (bad cholesterol) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) (good cholesterol). 

How often should you check your blood pressure? 

• Once every 2-5 years for those aged 18 and older with optimal normal blood pressure and no heart disease risk factors 
• Once a year: Those over 40 and those with an increased risk of high blood pressure  
• More often: those with chronic health conditions or heart disease.