Walmart stages ‘America’s Biggest Health Fair’

It makes sense that the nation’s top retailer would also play host to the largest one-day health fair. But for Walmart, the scale of its first-ever chainwide wellness and screening event — held last October and appropriately dubbed “America’s Biggest Health Fair” — is only part of the story: It’s backed by long-term commitment and big-scale thinking.

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Behind Walmart’s companywide health fairs — two more are planned for this year, one in March for Walmart associates and another in October for customers — is a determination to make Walmart a convenient access point nationwide for a wide range of health and wellness products and services. To that end, said a company spokesperson, “the retailer will focus on preventive care and supporting overall wellbeing across its entire assortment ... through in-store events, online education and an expanded assortment of products and service solutions.”



The company’s health fairs will proclaim that vision through the coordinated efforts of pharmacists, on-site nurses, Vision Center optometrists, Walmart Care Clinic staff and department managers in areas like grocery (for healthy foods), electronics (for wearable health devices and other products), durable medical equipment, fitness products and even apparel.



Walmart launched its first chainwide health event Oct. 10 in more than 4,400 stores. It included free blood glucose, blood pressure and vision screenings, product samples and health insurance information. More than 10,000 staff pharmacists also provided immunizations in many locations, along with brown-bag drug reconciliation counseling and other services.



It’s a storewide outreach, according to Alex Hurd, who, as senior director, product development, growth and payer innovation, is a driving force behind the health events.



“Knowledge is the first step in your personal journey to health improvement, and you can’t take action unless you know that you have issues,” said Hurd. For that reason alone, he said, “hosting these types of events makes a ton of sense for retail pharmacy.



“Consumers are already there, and they’re in those settings for solutions around health care, [including] food, activities and supplements,” Hurd added. “And from a public health perspective, if you look at the sheer amount of traffic we see, [with] 140 million customers every week ... it just makes sense. We’ve got the broad assortment of products, services and solutions that customers can take advantage of to launch their journey to live better, with healthier fresh foods, pharmacy, over-the-counter medications, exercise equipment, electronics, etc.”



Consumers clearly embraced the idea. “We did nearly 300,000 screenings” said Hurd. “We had nurses doing the screenings, and our pharmacists did about 50,000 immunizations.”



Among those screened were some 7,000 customers who had little or no insurance coverage. And some 3,000 of those screened were shown to be diabetic or at risk of having diabetes.



“It’s about early detection and prevention, and providing access points for health services for millions of Americans who normally don’t engage with the system, either because they lack health insurance, lack the time or simply because they don’t go,” Hurd said. “We heard hundreds of stories of customers who sought out medical professionals [after being screened].”



The health events yield other benefits, as well, he added. “It offers the opportunity for the pharmacist to engage with the patient. That’s one benefit. Another is [the opportunity] to work with payers and providers in looking at nontraditional mechanisms to engage patients.”



“We’re seeing more and more payers coming to the table and wanting to participate,” Hurd added.



Walmart’s next health fair, in March, will also focus on screenings and wellness for its own employees. The company will host another event in October.



“This is a responsibility we take seriously,” said Michelle Gloeckler, EVP of consumables and health and wellness. “From managing diabetes to running your first 5K and simply putting a healthy dinner on the table, we’re equipping our customers with solutions for total health management, which spans from nutrition, fitness, preventive care and treatment.”