February. I love the synchrony of having both Valentine’s Day and Family Day in the same month as Heart Month. As we find pandemic friendly ways to show love to our Valentines and our families, let’s show lots of love to our beating hearts.
FEBRUARY IS HEART MONTH
Team Relentless has big feelings about preventative health. When it comes to heart disease, prevention starts with knowing your risk. As outlined by Heart & Stroke, “nine in ten Canadians have at least one risk factor for heart disease and stroke. Almost 80% of premature heart disease and stroke can be prevented through healthy behaviours.”
Did you know? The number one cause of premature death for women in Canada is heart disease and stroke? That is a devastating fact.
This Heart Month, Heart & Stroke is shining a spotlight on heart failure which is one of the most common complications of heart disease. Heart failure means the heart is not functioning as well as it should. Doug Roth, CEO, Heart & Stroke, shared his thoughts with us as we put the spotlight on cardiovascular health. “Heart failure places a significant strain on people living with the condition and their families and caregivers. As one of the top reasons why people in Canada end up in hospital, it also places considerable burden on the healthcare system, costing billions of dollars annually. The good news is that lifestyle changes, earlier diagnosis, better medications and devices, and advances in research are helping people with heart failure live longer, healthier lives.”
Through investment in innovation, team Relentless wants to play a role in fixing broken hearts.
Speaking of hearts, mine bursts with pride having Alison Twiner, Chair, Board of Directors, Heart & Stroke, as a Relentless advisor and investor, aka Limited Partner and appreciate her personal support of our Relentless mission.
INTERNATIONAL DAY OF WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SCIENCE
Shout out to Relentless portfolio company Aspect Biosystems for sponsoring and coordinating a virtual conversation on February 11th – International Day of Women and Girls in Science. I had the honour of moderating the conversation along with four other inspirational women in biotech (Cate Murray, Erin Bedford, Shreya Shukla and Frann Antignano). We shared a few fun facts about ourselves and then jumped right into what inspired career choices, what challenges are faced from the inside as a woman in biotech, tips for personal advocacy, the art of self-promotion, and wrapped with a conversation about how we can all build community.
Thank you, Aspect, for elevating the conversation for women in biotech. It was an honour to celebrate the day with these new friends!
Why do we mark ‘International Days, Weeks & Months’? It is an opportunity to educate, to put a spotlight and to mobilize resources to address global problems. It is also a time to empower and celebrate.
FAMILY DAY
Speaking of celebrations, in British Columbia, Family Day is recognized on February 21st. Whether or not you live in a geography that has declared an official Family Day holiday, or not, I challenge you to acknowledge a day that causes everyone in your home to stop, pause, and celebrate one another. Think of a way to make the day just a bit different than a typical Monday.
In my home, we have an emotion wheel on the fridge, and a white board to fill in a daily response to “What Am I Feeling Today?” This is a foundational strategy in mental health care – being able to name your feeling. It is a daily practice that sounds so easy. It’s not. However, I do recommend it as a tool, a launch point for conversation, a ritual check in, promoting the habit of identifying feelings.
2022 – RELENTLESS PROPHECY
As we are well into February, it also means most people are very close to abandoning their well-intentioned new year’s resolutions, so we propose observing February as international prophecy month. We choose to prophesize on digital health, obviously, and declare the following three prophecies as the fuel that will continue to fund our thesis, always have, always will:
1. RPM – The Enabler for Seniors’ Care at Home
As our aging demographic continues to, well age, there will be constraints on the healthcare system and related expenses will continue to stoke the engine of innovation. When it comes to Agetech, ElderTech, Gerontech, Silver Tech, the Silver Economy, Seniors’ Health Tech, or whatever your preferred descriptor may be, Relentless maintains the belief that the master enabler for optimizing care of our aging family and friends will be remote patient monitoring (RPM). RPM is already disrupting the conventional wisdom about aging and seniors’ care. We expect it to become a ‘status quo’ for healthcare.
2. Loneliness and Mental Health
The need for unique health tech products and strategies to address this silent killer remains high.
3. Chronic Disease Management Will be Elevated
The case for chronic disease management will hit mainstream media and stay there.
Recent stats point to 60% of all individuals having at least one chronic condition, and a whopping 12% have five or more. That is a massive market that will continue to demand impactful healthcare solutions. We can all have an immediate impact by assessing our lifestyle choices. Suggestion – get your heart pumping this Family Day with a big family walk or hike.
Wishing you a rest of February that celebrates a renewed commitment to your one and only, heart.