To address yet another interest of its subscriber base, Saltscapes magazine has partnered with health authority the QEII Foundation to launch Living Healthy in Atlantic Canada, a bi-annual magazine that features news in health, medicine and disease prevention.

“We have some of the highest and worst statistics in the country for incidents of cancer, cardiovascular ailments, high incidents of diabetes. We are not a healthy community,” says Saltscapes editor and co-publisher Jim Gourlay.

Stories about programs that tackle pathological gambling and early psychosis treatment, for instance, are covered in the first, 44-page issue. About 35,000 copies will be distributed as an insert with Saltscapes, with an additional 15,000 available at hospitals and in patient waiting rooms. 

Gourlay, a former reporter, is grooming a small team of writers to make connections in the medical community and become eloquent in various health-related subject areas.

“It’s a process of taking some very detailed and difficult complex information and watering that down for public consumption…like science writing, not everybody can do it properly,” says Gourlay.

Profits from the ad-based revenue plan will be split in half between Saltscapes and the QEII Foundation. Advertisers range from large drug companies to local opticians and the rate for a full-page, four colour ad is $5,200.

Living Healthy must maintain the trust of the medical community, says Gourlay, who adds that he’d like to eventually turn the supplement into a full-size quarterly.

“The medical community is understandably nervous and waiting to see if this is going to be done properly," he says. "So far, so good."

Related links:

• Living Healthy in Atlantic Canada