Walgreens helps lead largest coordinated HIV testing event in U.S.

About 400 testing sites in more than 250 cities provided free HIV testing Monday for National HIV Testing Day, all thanks to a partnership between Walgreens, the Kaiser Family Foundation and testing partners. It was the largest coordinated HIV testing event in the nation. 

Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Roz Brewer and Walgreens Pharmacy and Healthcare Senior Vice President Rick Gates were on hand for the event in Chicago. They stopped by the Walgreens pharmacy affiliated with Howard Brown Health Center, a local nonprofit LGBTQ healthcare and social services provider, to talk with team members, health system partners and community members.

“It is our mission to really focus on localizing healthcare and bringing access to people who need it the most,” Brewer says. “When I was talking to the team around the testing table, I could tell that they know their customers. They’re part of this community, they feel it. They were here because they wanted to be here. You can tell they’re emotionally connected to the charge of getting people tested for HIV and making sure people stay healthy.”

Walgreens has supported people living with HIV and AIDS since the beginning of the epidemic more than 40 years ago. The company is committed to providing services within the community to help prevent, test, and treat HIV. As part of the company’s efforts, Walgreens invests in training its pharmacy team members to address the challenges faced by people living with HIV. The company’s specially-trained pharmacists offer one-on-one confidential HIV care including medication counseling, prevention options and how to apply for assistance programs like Ready, Set, PrEP (PrEP medications offer another effective means to reduce the risk of getting HIV). Walgreens also participates in ongoing research to help end the HIV epidemic.
 
See more of Brewer and Gates’ visit in the video below.