While you may be busy prepping your pharmacy for Valentine’s Day, it’s important not to let a special national health observance go unnoticed this month.
Recognized every February by the American Heart Association, American Heart Month is a time to raise awareness about heart disease, heart failure, high blood pressure, stroke, and other heart disease symptoms and treatments.
Celebrating American Heart Month at your independent community pharmacy offers multiple benefits for your business. It’s a chance to market your pharmacy’s products and services, educate patients and gain a reputation as the pharmacy that’s knowledgeable about heart health.
Here are nine fun ideas to promote heart health at your pharmacy this February.
1. Offer discounted health screenings
Health screenings are the perfect option to promote heart health awareness, help patients maintain their cardiac health and showcase your pharmacy’s preventive services.
Consider offering heart health-specific screenings, such as blood pressure testing or an annual wellness exam, at no-cost this month.
2. Educate patients on healthy heart habits
Patients rely on you to answer their health questions. This American Heart Month, ensure that your pharmacy is a place for patients to seek information regarding heart health.
Instruct patients about cardiac awareness by distributing educational brochures and pamphlets into their prescription bags. Or, offer an educational seminar that teaches patients tips for leading healthier lifestyles.
3. Emphasize smoking cessation
Help patients reduce their risk for heart attacks by highlighting your pharmacy’s smoking cessation program this month.
Be sure to emphasize front-end products that can help, like nicotine patches and gum. And, demonstrate to patients just how much heart health means to your business by offering one-on-one counseling services to help them quit smoking.
4. Take action for heart health
Make heart health your mission this February by getting involved.
Host an event in your community that promotes heart health, such as an educational school assembly. You could also display donation bins in your front end, so that patients can offer a contribution to local and national charities that support heart health awareness.
(Check out these four ways you can get involved in your community all-year round.)
5. Provide deals on front-end products
Entice patients to get healthy by offering front-end deals and promotions on products related to heart health.
You could have a sale on items such as aspirin products, multivitamins, fitness equipment, blood pressure monitors and weight management supplements.
6. Make patient consultations a priority
Make patients with cardiac troubles a focus for your independent pharmacy this February.
You could help patients with high blood pressure get healthy by offering personal health and weight-loss consultations.
And for patients with heart problems, complicated medication regimens may be a part of everyday life. This February, be sure to designate time to talk with patients about their medication routines to ensure they’re adhering to their prescriptions.
7. Teach patients how to monitor their blood pressure
This month, be sure to help your patients better manage their hypertension.
Although one in every three American adults has high blood pressure, only half of those with high blood pressure have the condition under control. Reasoning for this may be that patients with hypertension might not know how to monitor their condition.
A simple consultation may be all the time you need to instruct these patients on how to use and monitor their high blood pressure. Additionally, personal consultations for hypertensive patients can increase medication adherence.
8. Get social
Join the movement for healthier hearts by launching a social media campaign that promotes heart health.
Post daily on your pharmacy’s Facebook or Twitter pages to spread awareness and inform patients on heart health education.
Check out the U.S. Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion for ideas on what to tweet. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also has a list of health tips you can share on social media during the month of February.
9. Encourage exercise
Encourage patients to start exercising by adopting a more health-conscious mentality at your independent community pharmacy.
Patients might be more inclined to work out if your front end offers fitness equipment, such as weights or exercise balls. Also consider sponsoring an event, such as a 5k, to encourage healthy living.
Does your pharmacy promote national health observances? Check out these five ways you can use health observances to boost business at your pharmacy.
