Uninsured Arkansans turn out for free health screenings in African American Outreach Project

AARP is focused on improving the health and quality of life all communities, including the black community. Find out more about what AARP has to offer the African American community. You’ll find a wide selection of health education material there plus much more.

Health screenings are a critical method for preventing these chronic diseases by detecting potential diseases before symptoms are noticed.

AARP and Walgreens have teamed up for a two-year national mobile health screening tour to administer more than 2.5 million free health screenings this year worth more than $60 million. The six free screenings are administered by trained medical technicians inside the customized AARP/Walgreens Wellness tour bus. Results are instantly provided and everyone who is screened is encouraged to visit a doctor or health care provider to discuss the results.

About 250 people came to the AARP/Walgreens Tour Bus on Wednesday, September 30th, and nearly 200 received free health screenings. According to the Walgreens bus team of technicians and staff, the participation in West Memphis set a new team record for a single day of health screenings at one location.

AARP volunteer Dewery Watkins said, “It’s the personal relationships that made it happen.” Watkins, her husband, Robert, and several other members of the West Memphis and Forrest City chapter of AARP volunteered to promote and present the event. Key partners worked diligently to spread the word, including Christine Simpson, manager of Walgreens at 1800 Missouri; Yvette Barnes of Life Enrichment and Development and Terri Williams of the Delta Institute on Aging.

AARP volunteers in Helena-West Helena braved the rain to help residents of their medically underserved community get free health screenings on the AARP/Walgreens Bus at the Arkansas Blues and Heritage Festival in October. Emma Petty, president of the Helena-West Helena chapter, said 96 ads reaching approximately 250,000 people in eastern Arkansas on gospel stations prompted local residents to inquire about the free screenings and free AARP memberships. Listen to the AA/B Radio ad for AARP/Walgreens bus tour. AARP volunteers are following up with the local residents who were screened to make sure they complete the forms and mail them in to get their free memberships.

The media exposure for a Little Rock event in the continuing African American/Black outreach campaign for AARP Arkansas also included a news story on the CBS TV affiliate station, KTHV. Watch the article, featuring AARP Senior State Director Maria Reynolds-Diaz, an African American woman going through the screening process, and a Tour Bus spokesperson.

In addition, almost 250 60-second ads ran on gospel and urban adult stations, KOKY 102.1 FM, Praise 102.5 and 102.7 FM, and Power 92.3 FM in Little Rock, another area of significant African American population. Another 75 promos reached about 62,200 African Americans. Two-hour live radio remote broadcasts were aired from three AARP/Walgreens bus tour stops in Little Rock during the bus tour stop in Little Rock.