The pilot project hopes to improve women's health after childbirth

CHUM and Pharmaprix hope that the pilot project will offer around 100 women great postpartum care, especially for cardiovascular issues.

Complications such as gestational hypertension, gestational diabetes, and preeclampsia occur during pregnancy, but can also lead to a higher risk of cardiovascular disease if left untreated after birth.

However, because women often put their newborns first, sometimes to the detriment of their own health, doctors Christine Pacheco and Jessica Forcillo say they want to offer mothers a service better tailored to their realities.

“The project will develop a new, innovative model of care to address the challenge of assessing cardiovascular risk in women with complications during pregnancy,” said Pacheco.

He and Forcillo are the founders of the CHUM Clinique Cardio F, which specializes in women's cardiovascular diseases.

They collaborate with Pharmaprix to provide study participants with local care with access to a pharmacist and a specialist nurse.

According to Pacheco, 10 percent of women experience some type of health problem during pregnancy, doubling their risk of cardiovascular disease.

“We have some solid data in the literature that show that women with high blood pressure or diabetes during pregnancy have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, heart failure later in life,” he said.

Pacheco adds that preventive measures are necessary when a patient is in contact with the health care system, especially since women miss half of their medical appointments after childbirth.

Doctors explain that even if the mother is too tired to go to the doctor, she should go to the pharmacy for her child – hence the idea of ​​the pilot project.

“We really want to find ways to make follow-up care easier for these patients,” explains Forcillo, a heart surgeon at CHUM. “It's also a way to raise awareness and educate them about non-traditional risk factors (cardiovascular disease). For example, if you develop hypertension during pregnancy, you're four times more likely to develop it later.”

Pharmaprix's collaboration with the Aimez-vous program includes a visual ad in 15 participating pharmacies to inform women and their spouses about the program – a Canadian first.

As a first step, the pilot project will assess how many participants attend their pharmacy appointments.

“We want to reach women from different backgrounds,” said pharmacist owner El-Shaimaa Saleem. “Our role will really be to facilitate recruitment and follow-up. We want to remove one of the barriers to accessing care for some women.”

He said having customers visit the pharmacy makes recruitment easier.

As patients often consult a pharmacist for advice, it becomes easier to guide them into lifestyle changes, adjust medication and initiate consultation requests, Saliem said.

“Because patients are already clients, there is a relationship of trust and that facilitates open communication,” he added.

Pacheco, a cardiologist at the Pierre-Boucher Hospital and associate member of the CHUM, said recruiting an initial cohort of 100 patients would let doctors know that the model needs ongoing monitoring.

“We think that if we can go and find women where they are, reduce travel and offer close contact, that will improve frequency and participation in follow-ups,” she said.

If it works well, the project could be expanded to measure clinical outcomes, such as poorly controlled hypertension or fewer cardiovascular events.

— This Canadian Press report was first published in French on February 13, 2024.