Oprah and Walgreens Team Up to Fight Diabetes
Retailer will offer free blood glucose tests at stores
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Oprah could be ditching her Chicago digs and taking her popular daytime talkfest out west to Los Angeles so that she can broadcast it on cable television, says TV gossip guru Nikki Finke.
The University of Chicago estimates that the number of diabetes cases in the United States will double in the next 20 years. Nearly 45 million Americans are expected to contract the disease that has been called the most expensive, and serious health crises facing the nation.
The first step in battling the disease is identifying it.
To that end, Walgreen's and Oprah are teaming up to fight it.
The Deerfield-based chain's 24-hour stores and clinics will offer the free blood sugar testing at all of its stores Friday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. People aged 18 and older are eligible.
Also, free diabetes tests will be available at Walgreen's stores in thousands of communities nationwide through February 18.
The announcement came Thursday on Oprah Winfrey's show, as part of her pitch to attack the epidemic.
Nearly 24 million Americans have diabetes, and an estimated 6 million or so are undiagnosed.
Prevalence has increased dramatically over the past decade, partly because the most common type of diabetes is linked with obesity.
Posted Friday, Feb 5, 2010 - 7:15 AM CST
