On New Year's Day, many people resolve to get heathier - not always the easiest resolution.
On Saturday, Walmart officials will try to make it a little easier. Free health screenings will be offered in stores across Missouri, including in Fulton and central Missouri, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The free health screening also offers other checks, including blood glucose and blood pressure and body mass index checks. Low-cost immunizations also are offered, and vision screenings in some stores with optical services.
At select stores including Jefferson City and Columbia Walmart locations, the corporation also will introduce a new virtual reality video experience to assist with smoking cessation. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 22 percent of adults in Missouri smoke cigarettes regularly. This free resource is intended to be a step toward quitting tobacco.
Walmart officials also announced this week they are the first national pharmacy chain to offer a free opioid disposal solution at all pharmacy locations allowing patients to responsibly dispose of medications in their trash.
"This announcement came out Wednesday," said Walmart spokesperson Abigail Rolland of The Hauser Group. "It's being offered to Walmart customers."
The initiative is being called DisposeRx. Customers are given a small packet of ingredients that can be emptied with warm water into a pill bottle, rendering unused prescription medications useless.
"So if the patient doesn't finish the prescription, it turns it unusable," Rolland said.
Then, patients can dispose of the leftover medication in their trash.
The inititive is meant to help curb opioid misuse by people other than the patient to whom the prescription was issued. According to the American Physical Therapy Association, one out of every 66 deaths in 2016 in Missouri were due to opioid overdose.
DisposeRx packets contain a crosslinking polymer blend that, when added to the pill bottle with warm water, sequester any form of prescription drugs including powders, pills, tablets, capsules, liquids or patches into a non-divertible and biodegradable gel. The chemicals in the packet are listed as safe by the FDA. Beginning immediately, patients filling any new Class II opioid prescription at Walmart and Sam's Club pharmacies will receive a free DisposeRx packet and opioid safety information brochure when picking up their prescription.
"The health and safety of our patients is a critical priority; that's why we're taking an active role in fighting our nation's opioid issue an issue that has affected so many families and communities across America," said Marybeth Hays, executive vice president of Consumables and Health and Wellness at Walmart U.S. "While this issue requires many resources to solve, we are confident this unique, easy-to-use disposal solution, DisposeRx, will make a meaningful impact on the lives of many."
On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill and a group of colleagues urged the Trump administration to renew its declaration of the ongoing opioid epidemic as a public health emergency, and to work with them to adequately fund prevention and treatment efforts. The current declaration expires Jan. 23.
"Too many in our communities are losing their lives, families, and futures to opioids and we need to be doing everything humanly possible to help them," wrote McCaskill and colleagues in a letter to the Trump administration on Jan. 12. "We hope that you will immediately renew the opioid public health emergency and work with us to fight for the federal funding needed to adequately address this crisis."
