How Medline is Partnering to Increase Arthritis Awareness

Arthritis is a chronic, painful condition causing stiffness and swelling in the joints. Although it cannot be cured, it can be managed more effectively. This Arthritis Awareness Month, Medline Canada is proud to support the Arthritis Society of Canada, recognizing the significant impact arthritis has on Canadians.

One in five Canadians are currently affected by arthritis and projections indicate that in the next 15 years one in four will have the condition. Medline Canada is helping to address this issue with solution offerings for those whose lives are affected by arthritis.

In this Ask the Expert, we spoke with Diana Gazdar, Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications at Medline Canada, to discuss Medline’s approach to developing solutions that help arthritis sufferers manage their symptoms and improve their quality of life.

Q: What specific challenges do people with arthritis face?

Constant pain, mobility issues and fatigue are the most specific challenges that people with arthritis face. This makes daily activities like putting on socks, getting into the shower, walking to the car and getting the groceries—all the things that seem so mundane —much more difficult. Often people with arthritis have to think through and plan their entire day, so they can conserve their energy to be able to make it through.

Q:What makes Medline unique when it comes to developing arthritis care products?

What sets Medline apart is our presence across the entire continuum of care. Whether in a hospital, a long-term care home, or a doctor's office, Medline has deep experience in all of these clinical healthcare settings.

Medline invests a significant amount of time working closely with a variety of clinical staff to understand what is needed for the people who are living with different diseases, including arthritis, with the goal of helping them perform daily living tasks safer and easier. Medline offers a variety of mobility and bath safety products to aid mobility and function within home environments. Our mobility products include canes, rollators, transfer chairs and wheelchairs. On the bath safety side, we offer grab bars, raised toilet seats, chairs, all of which are designed to reduce the risk of falls, particularly in the bathroom, where many accidents occur. Medline’s products can be found on Amazon.ca and at home healthcare retail stores.

Q: We know that the surgical wait times for Knee and Hip replacements, often driven by arthritis, currently exceed 12 months. What solutions is Medline able to provide as a leading medical supplier to help alleviate surgical backlogs like this?

Medline addresses these surgical backlog concerns with our Peri-Op Performance Program™, designed to optimize resources in the operating room, enhance patient safety and improve outcomes.

Perioperative refers to the whole process — from the initial consultation to post-operative care. ORs are a complex, multi-faceted environment and OR leaders face many challenges managing competing priorities. Our Peri-Op Performance Program experts work directly with hospitals and surgical clinics to learn about their specific challenges and perioperative priorities. By streamlining processes and identifying efficiencies in supply usage and logistics, the program aims to mitigate delays and support hospitals in managing the growing surgical demand.

Q: What do the efforts of the Arthritis Society of Canada (ASC) and companies like Medline do for people who suffer with arthritis?

Before I started working at Medline, I didn’t realize the range of home and daily living aids available to help support people like me who live with arthritis.If I had known about them sooner, I would have bought them years ago. By partnering with the Arthritis Society of Canada, Medline is amplifying the message that these products can significantly improve quality of life, making it easier to manage arthritis at any age.

ASC offers crucial support for people with arthritis by raising awareness about available resources out there, such as free rehab therapy and connections to rheumatologists. However, the most important thing that they're doing is, to me, promoting education and advocacy. ASC offers education for people on how to better manage arthritis. Our federal and provincial health authorities need to have a better understanding of what the impact of arthritis is to the average Canadian.

For more information on resources for people living with arthritis, visit the Arthritis Society of Canada.