On the opening day of the National Urban League Annual Conference, Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, and John Gremer, Walgreens director of community affairs, announced with AARP, more than one million people nationwide received free health tests and education through the Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour. The announcement recognizes a significant milestone for Walgreens (NYSE:WAG) (Nasdaq:WAG) and the National Urban League as they celebrate their eight-year effort to bring free preventive and early detection health services to urban and minority communities across the country.
To celebrate this important milestone, the Way to Well Health Tour’s mobile health testing vehicle and its certified wellness staff will be in the conference’s Health Zone & Expo Hall to administer the free health tests. In addition to receiving free health screenings, conference participants have the opportunity help assemble back to school kits with items donated by Walgreens for underserved children in the Cincinnati community.
“We are proud to provide more than one million people in thousands of communities nationwide access to free critical health screenings and education in collaboration with the National Urban League and AARP,” said John Gremer, Walgreens director of community affairs, “We look forward to reaching more individuals starting off right here in Cincinnati at the National Urban League Annual Conference.”
Walgreens, the National Urban League and AARP have a long-standing commitment to improving health outcomes in minority communities. Since 2006, the Way to Well Health Tour with the National Urban League has provided more than $12 million worth of free health tests to community members in hundreds of urban communities nationwide. The current health tour provides a series of tests to adults over the age of 18 including cholesterol, glucose, blood pressure, and more aimed at early detection of chronic diseases that disproportionately affect minority and urban communities. Collectively the bundle of free health tests is valued at more than $100.
“The National Urban League is pleased to continue its eight-year effort with Walgreens through the Way to Well Health Tour,” said Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League. “We share a commitment to improving the health outcomes in our communities and are looking forward to continuing to work together to empower people to live healthier lives.”
“We are excited to work alongside Walgreens to achieve healthier communities nationwide,” said John Wider, president and CEO of AARP Services, Inc. “This health tour enables us all to come together and serve America’s growing population of people over the age of 50 and supply those with the help they need to achieve optimum health.”
The Walgreens Way to Well Health Tour is one of the charitable components of the Walgreens Way to Well Commitment®, which began in 2011 as a four-year, $100 million initiative to improve the everyday health of Americans nationwide. The initiative is also dedicated to providing accessible, affordable resources for prevention and early detection of chronic diseases – heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Heart disease and cancer are the two leading causes of death in the U.S., while diabetes is the nation’s fastest-growing disease over the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To learn when the Way to Well Health Tour is serving a neighborhood near you, visit Walgreens.com/WaytoWell.
