Archive for November, 2011

Healthy Foods too Expensive? Some Money Savings Tips

Posted by on November 29th, 2011

You’ve no doubt read study after study that says the key to a more healthy life is a healthy diet, and you’ve gone to the grocery store committed to coming home with a cart full of healthy food only to be stopped by the sticker shock. The sad fact is that it’s often much cheaper to buy the processed foods that we’ve been warned are bad for us. Budgets are even tighter these days, and adding 10-15% to your grocery bill in order to buy healthier foods might not be realistic when you’re struggling with bills as it is. Health.com recently ran money saving tips on how to eat better but not break the bank that might be of interest if you’re trying to eat better, but want to save money while doing it.

  1. Frozen Berries. Buy more affordable frozen berries instead of the often out of season fresh berries.
  2. Quick Oats. Offer a cheaper and more nutritious breakfast than instant oatmeal or process cereals.
  3. Homemade Kale Chips. Cost only pennies to make and unlike potato chips are actually good for you!
  4. Canned Salmon. Just as full of omega-3 as the much more costly fresh salmon.
  5. Tofu. You can add it into smoothies for protein, or use it in stir fry’s for a cheap and healthy meal.
  6. Plan. Plan. Plan. Plan a weeks worth of meals before you go shopping. You’ll be able to double up on ingredients and make sure you don’t waste any of that expensive fresh produce by having a plan on what you are going to do with it.
  7. Look in your fridge and pantry. Before you go shopping double check what you already have and work what you already have into your weeks meal plan.
  8. Don’t be afraid of bruised produce. If you’re going to use it that night, you don’t need to be afraid of the older produce that is marked for clearance at the store. It’s just as full of nutrition as the newer produce.
  9. Stock up on Staples. When you see something you use a lot of and it’s on sale, don’t be afraid to stock up.

Here at Canada Drugs Canadian Pharmacy, we try to bring down one aspect of your monthly bills by offering discount prescription medication, and we hope that during these tougher economic times that it’s a small relief to your families personal bottom-line. We all like to save and smart shopping and CanadaDrugs.com discount savings can help you have a little budget relief.

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Canada Drugs Supports the United Way in a Big Way!

Posted by on November 25th, 2011

Every year around this time Canada Drugs dedicates a week to the United Way. We raise money throughout the year for the United Way, but during our annual United Way Kickoff Week, we put a special focus on this great organization and devote a week to learning more about the good work they do in our community of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and as organization the type of work they do around world.

The United Way of Winnipeg supports a variety of programs and strategies with a focus on three areas, education, income and health. The education programs help children and youth achieve their potential, while the many income, programs are designed to promote financial stability and independence. The health programs that they support work to improve neighbourhood health and personal well-being. The United Way works with nearly 100 partner agencies around Winnipeg by assisting them in delivering lasting, positive change. During the United Way week at our Canadian pharmacy, we gathered to hear personal stories from some of the people that have been helped by the organization and see where some of the money that we raise goes. We heard touching stories about how the stroke recovery program helped a woman regain the ability to speak, and how the income assistance program allowed a man who suffered from a degenerative eye disease to attend classes where he gained skills that allowed him to remain in the workforce.

The United Way is active in 45 countries around the world, and makes positive contributions in over 1800 communities. It’s a safe bet that the United Way is active in your community too and you can learn more about your local organization too by visiting their website. The great thing about supporting your local United Way is that your valued donation will stay right in your local community and help people right around you.

The best thing about our annual United Way drive is that our President and CEO Kris Thorkelson agrees to generously match every dollar raised by Canada Drugs with 4 dollars of his own. Some of the fun events we held over the week were our own version of the game show “Minute to Win It,” an exciting raffle where the grand prize was a set of Winnipeg Jets tickets, and the always popular “Cage and Pie your Boss”, where we all got to donate money for the chance to throw a pie at our bosses, or lock them away in a jail to wear funny hats for the afternoon. These events, along with the yearly pledge forms and our CEO big matching fund raised a grand total of $91,944.30 for the United Way! Next year we hope to break the $100,000 mark for the first time!

Enjoy some of the pictures from the fun we had, and try to get involved in your community too, either through donating what you can spare, or lending some time to a worthy cause like the United Way. We can all make a big difference in our communities by working together just a little.

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Free Prescription Medication Black Friday Deal Offers American Consumers Cost Relief

Posted by on November 24th, 2011

CanadaDrugs.com, the largest international mail-order pharmacy provider is fighting back against spiralling U.S prescription costs with http://www.blackfridaydrugs.com, where they will offer U.S consumers free prescription medication, and a needed break on spiralling U.S drug costs.

Black Friday marks the busiest shopping day of the year, and the kick-off of the Christmas retailing season, and retailers both brick-and-mortar and online will be rolling out massive sales and promotions to entice consumers. What none of these deals will address are the spiralling costs of medication for American consumers, who already face the highest prescription drug costs in the world and saw in 2011 a price increase of an additional 7.2% on over a hundred of the top selling brand medications. In response to these high drugs costs, CanadaDrugs.com, the largest international mail order pharmacy provider is launching a weeklong Black Friday campaign where every single American will be eligible for free generic prescription medication.

The Black Friday Drugs campaign is designed give instant price relief in the form of free generic prescription medication, up to a $250 U.S value. CanadaDrugs.com, has been offering Americans an affordable alternative to their prescription costs for over a decade, and has filled over 6 million prescriptions. This Black Friday offer will introduce more Americans, who struggle with their prescription bill, to the opportunity and savings that online pharmacies offer their customers. Access to safe and affordable pharmaceuticals should be a natural right for all Americans, but it’s clear that too many Americans are being failed by a combination of government inaction and big pharmaceutical greed.

“The fact is that Americans are paying too much for their prescription medication. The rest of the world has access to more affordable drugs, and it’s unfair to U.S consumers that they’re forced to pay such high costs in comparison. I know that this free drug offer will appeal to hundreds of thousands of Americans and will help them stretch a budget that is being pushed to the brink by record high drug costs,” said Brock Gunter-Smith, Chief Business Development Officer for Canada Drugs. “We hope that this offer will bring the people that take advantage back as regular customers because we’re confident our service, quality and dedication to patient health will convince them of our benefits, but even if it’s just a one time order, we’ll be happy to help someone save and spread the word that there are options out there to high U.S costs.”

Canada Drugs believes access to essential prescription drugs should be safe, convenient, and affordable for all. An extremely rigorous standard of patient safety and security is maintained. All orders, whether placed during this Black Friday offer, or over the rest of the year require a valid U.S prescription and the Canada Drugs staff of licensed, accredited pharmacists and technicians provide the same review and oversight as a local pharmacy. Canada Drugs is a certified member of the Canadian International Pharmacy Association (CIPA) the Better Business Bureau and is a 5 star rated pharmacy from PharmacyChecker.com.

The free Black Friday Drug offer will run from November 25th to December 1st and will provide up to $250 U.S worth of generic prescription medication to all new Canada Drugs patients. “This offer has the potential to save Americans millions of dollars. I know that people are worried about how to stretch budgets, how to get by without adequate prescription coverage, or what to do when falling into the Medicare Part-D doughnut hole, and I know that $250 worth of free prescription medication will help anyone struggling to cope with the reality of too high U.S drug costs,” said Gunter-Smith.

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Increased Health Care Costs Pushing More Seniors into Poverty

Posted by on November 14th, 2011

The Census Bureau on Monday released a new, comprehensive poverty measure that painted a negative picture of the economic landscape for millions of Americans. The report found that 49.1 million Americans — 16 percent of the population — lived in poverty in 2010, which is higher than the 46.2 million Americans found to live in poverty by the official measure that was released in September. The increased level of poverty was fueled by the sharply higher levels of poverty among senior citizens.

The reason for this higher level of poverty in the senior group? This new measurement by the Census Bureau for the first time includes out-of-pocket costs for medical expenses in hits calculations. By including the ever-increasing cost of medical care and high prescription drug costs, the rare of seniors in poverty increased by 6.9% over the previous numbers which did not include medical costs. This increase in poverty among seniors was the highest of any of the groups surveyed.

The Fiscal Times in an article entitled ‘The New Poor: Elderly Hit Hard on Health Costs” outlines how changing the measurement for the poverty level to include costs for medical care and child care resulted in what some call a more accurate representation of the financial picture for America’s seniors. The worry is that poverty amongst seniors will only grow in the future, as the safety of the Social Security Program is eroded by increasing medical and prescription drug costs. Also worth considering is the fact that rising Medicare premiums will reduce the buying power of Social Security every year. Basically, the study confirms what we hear many of our patients at Canada Drugs tell us when they call to order discount prescription drugs, mainly that the rising costs of drugs and medical treatment is making it hard for them to live on their fixed budgets.

It’s the growing reality of poverty amongst a vulnerable group, with important prescription needs that make having an affordable alternative like Canada Drugs so important. We believe that the option to order cheaper international drugs is an important one that seniors and other Americans struggling to stay afloat should have the right to. This poverty study confirming the growing rate of seniors being pushed into poverty by medical costs will hopefully resonate in Congress and with the President when they decide if Americans should have the option of ordering from companies like Canada Drugs.

We invite you to read more and get involved at http://www.rxrights.org, You have a voice and you can let your elected officials know that access to safe and affordable pharmaceuticals should be a natural right for all Americans.

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