Over 5,200 Walmarts, Sam's Clubs plan free health screenings

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — This Saturday, free health screenings will be offered at more than 5,200 Walmart and Sam’s Club stores nationwide in what Walmart called its biggest screening event ever.

The company said Wednesday that Walmart Wellness Day will be held on Jan. 14 at 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in over 4,600 Walmart stores and from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in 618 Sam’s Club locations.

Screenings at the Walmart stores will include blood glucose, blood pressure, vision and, for the first time, body fat and body mass index. Stores also will offer product samples and health insurance information, and more than 10,000 Walmart pharmacists will provide immunizations in select stores.

Sam’s Club’s screenings, valued at up to $150, will include blood glucose, blood pressure, vision/hearing (where applicable), body fat, total cholesterol and HDL (good cholesterol). The warehouse club chain’s pharmacists also will be on hand to administer vaccinations.

Walmart said the screening event comes as many people resolve to lose weight and take better care of their health and well-being for the new year.

“Knowing your numbers is critical to achieving your healthy resolutions and to maintaining a healthy lifestyle,” George Riedl, senior vice president and president of Walmart Health & Wellness, said in a statement. “That’s why Walmart and Sam’s Club have joined together for the very first time to kick off 2017 with the company’s largest free health screening event to date.”

During 2016, Walmart and Sam’s Club provided almost a half-million free health screenings combined. At Walmart alone, nearly 250,000 screenings were conducted in October. Sam’s Club began offering free health screenings in 2010 and has held more than 1 million screenings — offered the second Saturday of every month from January to October — since the program began. The retailer said the events have helped people detect such health problems as high blood pressure, signs of diabetes and other potential illnesses.

Walmart added that its screening event have continued to break company records. In October, it administered about 52,000 immunizations and distributed more than 2 million free samples at a single event.

“Sam’s Club and Walmart are committed to helping the communities we serve lead healthier lives,” stated Jill Turner-Mitchael, senior vice president of consumables, health and wellness at Sam’s Club. “We invite you to our locations this weekend to experience our health screenings to start or restart your healthy choices for the year.”