CVS/pharmacy’s Project Health offering 1,000 screening events in 2012

CVS/pharmacy is planning 1,000 health-screening events across the country this year, as part of its new multicultural Project Health program.

The retailer’s wellness program will deliver more than $21 million worth of free health screenings to multicultural communities. Project Health is offering free health-risk assessments and screenings during American Heart Month in February, Diabetes Awareness Month in November, and other select months.

Events are planned in major metropolitan markets across the United States and at CVS/pharmacy locations in Puerto Rico.

“We know that, for a variety of reasons, multicultural populations have difficulty accessing and benefitting from preventive care. Making this issue even more disconcerting, these same patients disproportionately suffer from certain treatable conditions, like high blood pressure and diabetes,” said Troyen A. Brennan, MD, MPH, executive vice president and chief medical officer for CVS Caremark.

At the Project Health events, medical personnel will provide diabetes, blood-pressure, cholesterol, and osteoporosis screenings, and will examine patients for oral-care issues. Referrals for mammograms and pap smears will be provided, as well as consultations with nurse practitioners and CVS pharmacists.

Once screened, patients will be helped through on-site consultations with bi-lingual nurse practitioners who will analyze the results and refer patients to no-cost or low-cost medical facilities within that neighborhood or to their primary-care physicians, if additional follow-up is required.