CONSHOHOCKEN, Pa., July 12, 2012 - Take Care Health Systems, a division of Walgreens (NYSE: WAG)(NASDAQ: WAG), and the University of Notre Dame, today announced the opening of an on-site wellness center located on the Notre Dame campus. The center serves full-time university faculty and staff, their spouses and dependents, and the spouses and children of graduate students.
Following a grand opening ceremony on July 11th, the facility officially opened for patients today.
Notre Dame’s on-campus wellness center reflects the direction many organizations are taking by offering more comprehensive health care services for employees and their dependents. Notre Dame currently operates and will continue to operate its health center for students. Take Care Health Systems is one of the nation's largest and most comprehensive managers of convenient care clinics and employer-based health and wellness centers.
“We are excited to work with such a prestigious institution as the University of Notre Dame, which continues to demonstrate a commitment to its communities by moving beyond basic programs to offer a more comprehensive array of health services for faculty, staff and dependents,” said Peter Hotz, group vice president for Walgreens Health and Wellness division. “We are increasingly seeing educational institutions recognizing what many innovative companies have found – namely that by investing in broad worksite health programs they can expect to see improved patient outcomes, overall savings and happier and more productive employees.”
The Notre Dame Wellness Center serves nearly 12,000 people. The center is more than 7,000 square feet and provides full primary care, urgent care, pharmacy services (including infusion therapy, specialty pharmacy and a drive-thru window), lab testing, allergy and flu shots, travel medicine, vaccinations and physical therapy. In addition, the center’s staff works to identify chronic health conditions and provide education on nutrition and exercise to help reduce risk factors. The wellness center’s staff includes a full-time physician, nurse practitioners, a physical therapist, registered nurses, phlebotomists, certified medical assistants and wellness coaches.
“We are committed to fostering an exceptional environment not only for all our students, but for our faculty, staff and their dependents as well. Helping these members of our community stay healthy is integral to achieving this,” said Robert McQuade, Notre Dame vice president for human resources. “By providing convenient access to the broad range of healthcare services available through this wellness center, we are making Notre Dame a better place to work and learn.”
Employers are increasingly looking to offer onsite health and wellness services, according to a 2011 report from Towers Watson and the National Business Group on Health. Results published in the report were generated from a survey of 588 employers conducted between November 2010 and January 2011 and showed that 23 percent of companies currently offer onsite health services and that an additional 12 percent of companies plan to begin to offer services in 2012.
About Walgreens
As the nation’s largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2011 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America’s first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 7,907 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.
About Notre Dame
Founded in 1842, the University of Notre Dame is the nation’s preeminent Catholic university and is rated among the top 25 of all U.S. institutions of higher learning. Notre Dame is organized into four undergraduate colleges — Arts and Letters, Science, Engineering, and the Mendoza College of Business — the School of Architecture, the Law School, the Graduate School, 10 major research institutes, more than 40 centers and special programs, and the University library system. Located adjacent to the city of South Bend, approximately 90 miles east of Chicago, it is highly residential, with 80 percent of students living on campus, and also is known for the quality of its physical plant and the beauty of its campus, including the Golden Dome of the Main Building, the world’s most recognized university landmark.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements regarding Walgreens and Take Care Health Systems in this release that are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of Walgreens most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, and in other documents that Walgreens files or furnishes with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, Walgreens undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the distribution of this release, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.
Walgreen Co. Corporate Communications
Jim Graham, (847) 315-2925
http://news.walgreens.com