Walgreens Shows Support for People With Diabetes
Walgreens is scheduled to take part for the second year as a sponsor of Children with Diabetes (CWD), a West Chester, Ohio-based nonprofit organization that provides education and support to people with type 1 diabetes, at the group’s upcoming Friends for Life (FFL) Conference. The drug store will highlight several offerings and health care solutions for diabetes at the annual event, slated for July 9-14 in Orlando, Fla. FFL brings together experts, adults, children and families for a weekend to inspire and connect the diabetes community.
“Roughly half of the U.S. population is living with diabetes or pre-diabetes,” noted Tracey D. Brown, EVP and president, Walgreens Retail, and chief customer officer. “Having access to resources and a supportive community pharmacist can have a great impact on managing their health. Walgreens believes in CWD’s mission to empower families and all people living with diabetes to enjoy healthy, enriched lives. As a person living with diabetes for 20 years, I want to encourage others with this chronic condition not to give up – keep thriving.”
Walgreens offers an expansive assortment of diabetes products and services, including blood glucose meters and testing strips, at-home A1C test kits, and trained pharmacists specializing in diabetes care.
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As a part of the booth experience at the Friends for Life Conference, Walgreens and grocery technology company Instacart will provide a pop-up shop with Walgreens brand diabetes supplies, first-aid essentials, sun care items, and more. The pop-up shop will employ Instacart’s Scan & Pay technology enabling customers to use a mobile device’s camera to scan product barcodes in their cart, and then check out quickly using digital payment.
Additionally, Brown and Shauna Markes-Wilson, Walgreens’ director of pharmacy and retail operations for the Georgia/Florida North region, will speak at the conference. Walgreens also plans to emphasize how it’s driving the next generation of clinical trials by addressing longstanding barriers to participation to enable more flexible and convenient access for communities.
Further, the company’s talent acquisition team will be at the conference to speak to fellows in endocrinology, recent Ph.D. graduates, and health care professionals as part of its commitment to aid the diabetes community.
News of Walgreens’ involvement in Friends for Life comes as the drug store giant faces the closure of potentially thousands of stores within its core business, as revealed by its recent Q3 earnings report.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. is an integrated health care, pharmacy and retail leader serving millions of customers and patients every day. It has approximately 12,500 locations across the United States, Europe and Latin America and employs more than 315,000 people. The Deerfield, Ill.-based Walgreens brand operates nearly 9,000 retail locations across the United States, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. It’s No. 6 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
San Francisco-based Instacart partners with more than 1,500 national, regional, and local retail banners to facilitate online shopping, delivery and pickup services from more than 85,000 stores across North America on the Instacart Marketplace.
