CVS/pharmacy's Project Health Highlights National Minority Health Month With Free Health Screenings Available in 10 Major Cities Throughout April

USA - English

• Latin America - español

WOONSOCKET, R.I., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- CVS/pharmacy, the nation's leading retail pharmacy, officially announced today the April schedule of Project Health (Proyecto Salud in Spanish), a wellness program delivering more than $21 million worth of free health screenings to multicultural communities throughout 2012.

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As part of National Minority Health Month, CVS/pharmacy will offer free health screenings at select stores in African American and Latino communities in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.

"Access to preventive care is one way we help the communities we serve," said Troyen A. Brennan, M.D., M.P.H., Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, CVS Caremark. "We know chronic conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes are a tremendous burden on multicultural communities and detecting these issues is a very important first step on a person's path to better health."

The program, which aims to prevent disease through early detection, grew from CVS/pharmacy's highly successful To Your Health/A Su Salud campaigns. This year, Project Health will offer an array of free comprehensive health risk assessments and screenings during disease-specific national health awareness months. Over 1,000 Project Health events are scheduled for 2012.

Project Health is a part of efforts by CVS/pharmacy to improve access to preventive care and ensure that cost is not a barrier to important services, like professional health assessments and screenings. Project Health events, while offered to address and raise awareness of ethnic health disparities, are open to everyone and will not require an appointment.

Medical personnel will be on hand to provide diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol and BMI screenings.  Referrals will also be provided as well as consultations with nurse practitioners and CVS pharmacists. A selection of screenings will be available at each event.

Once screened, CVS/pharmacy will help patients through on-site consultations with bi-lingual (Spanish/English) nurse practitioners or physician assistants who will analyze the results and refer patients to no-cost or low-cost medical facilities within that neighborhood or to their primary care physician should additional follow-up be required.

In 2011, CVS/pharmacy provided free and low-cost medical screenings and services valued at $150 per person through the To Your Health/A Su Salud programs.  Over 162,000 people were screened during last year's events, underscoring the demand for these important services. Of the individuals screened, many health concerns were discovered, including:

• 57 percent had at least one abnormal screening result
• 48 percent had at least one abnormal risk factor for heart disease
• 42 percent had risk factors for osteoporosis 
• 27 percent had abnormal glucose readings

The Project Health events will be held at designated CVS/pharmacy locations on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays during the month of April from 2-6 pm daily with no appointment necessary. Future campaign months include Immunization Awareness Month (August), Dental Hygiene Awareness Month (October) and Diabetes Awareness Month (November). For more information, and a full calendar of Project Health events, please go to www.cvs.com/projecthealth or call 1-800-SHOP-CVS.

CVS Caremark is committed to serving people from all walks of life, diverse cultures and lifestyles within the markets in which we operate. As part of these efforts, CVS/pharmacy conducts Project Health in multicultural communities across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, stocks stores with a product assortment that appeals to diverse cultural groups, provides in-language signage where appropriate and distributes prescription medication related information in multiple languages. 

About CVS/pharmacy

CVS/pharmacy, the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS), is America's leading retail pharmacy with more than 7,300 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drug stores. CVS/pharmacy is reinventing pharmacy to help people on their path to better health by providing the most accessible and personalized expertise, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS/pharmacy and CVS Caremark is available at http://info.cvscaremark.com.

SOURCE CVS/pharmacy