RICHMOND, Va., April 29 /PRNewswire/ -- RediClinic LLC announced today that it is teaming up with BIOSAFE Laboratories, Inc. and Glycemion, Inc. to provide free diabetes screenings to school age children in the greater Richmond, Va. area to help identify diabetic and pre-diabetic children and adolescents. Beginning May 1, 2008 and continuing through May 31, 2008, the diabetes screenings will be available free of charge at any of the nine RediClinic facilities located in Wal-Mart Supercenters in the Richmond area. No appointments are necessary.
Parents are encouraged to bring their children in for the free screening if they recognize any of the seven most common symptoms of diabetes in their children: frequent urination, excessive thirst, extreme hunger, sudden weight loss, increased fatigue, blurred vision or if the child is overweight.
"Diabetes is a debilitating and life-shortening disease whose most serious complications can often be effectively treated with early detection. We hope that making this test available to school age children will result in earlier diagnosis of undiagnosed diabetes and pre-diabetes, and help to mitigate complications later in life. Awareness at an early age is key," said Carolyn Galloway, MD, chief medical officer of RediClinic LLC.
The BIOSAFE Diabetes Risk Assessment is a two-part process comprised of an immediate fasting glucose reading and a mail-in laboratory analysis for hemoglobin A1c, a blood glucose marker for the previous 90-day period. Samples for both tests are collected through a simple finger-stick collection kit. Taken in combination, these two results are a reliable indicator of diabetes or a pre-diabetes condition.
For best results, a child should fast for 12 hours before having the screening administered. The instant glucose results will be available a few minutes after the test is administered. If the glucose result is elevated, the blood sample will be sent to a lab for further analysis and the results of the BIOSAFE Diabetes Risk Assessment will be shared with parents approximately two weeks after the clinic visit. As part of the process, RediClinic clinicians will educate patients about diabetes, and refer patients to their medical home or an appropriate provider for follow-on care.
"Despite decades of medical advances for the treatment of diabetes, millions of people remain undiagnosed or at risk for the disease. We are confident that those who are identified as being in a pre-diabetic state will work with their physicians, school nurses and diabetes educators to implement dietary and healthy lifestyle changes to avoid the onset of diabetes and its catastrophic complications, such as heart disease, blindness and kidney failure," said Jack Maggiore, Ph.D., president of BIOSAFE Laboratories.
Type 2 diabetes (non-insulin dependent diabetes) affects more than 20 million Americans and is the most common form of the disease. However, because diabetes exhibits few, if any, symptoms until its advanced stages, millions more are unaware that they are in danger of developing the disease. When blood glucose (sugar) levels are higher than normal, but not yet high enough to be classified as diabetes, a condition known as pre-diabetes exists. If discovered early, a person with pre-diabetes can avoid the disease through education, diet, exercise and appropriately prescribed medications.
Glycemion, Inc. is participating in the program by marketing and distributing the BIOSAFE Diabetes Risk Assessment kits in the United States.
Funding for this program is being provided, in part, by the National Center for Public Research (N.C.P.R.). The N.C.P.R., in partnership with the Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group, has conducted extensive research on the identification of and solution to the Food Desert and its link to diabetes. A Food Desert is a reference to a large or isolated geographical area with limited, or no, access to mainstream grocery stores.
"This is a wonderful example of direct action being taken by business and science in response to our research. Most importantly, children and the communities they live in will benefit greatly from this effort," said Mari Gallagher, president of N.C.P.R. and Mari Gallagher Research & Consulting Group.
RediClinic locations are in-store healthcare facilities that offer consumers easy access to high-quality, routine health services at affordable prices. They are staffed by certified nurse practitioners and other clinicians who work with local physicians to diagnose, treat and prescribe medications for common conditions, such as earaches, strep throat and upper respiratory infections. RediClinic patients can also benefit from a wide range of preventive services, including health screenings, flu shots and other vaccinations, and back-to-school physical exams.
RediClinic locations are open seven days a week (including most holidays) and offer extended hours on weekdays. Adults and children over age two are welcome, no appointments are necessary, and a typical visit takes about 15 minutes.
RediClinic visits are covered by the four largest commercial health insurance carriers -- Aetna, CIGNA, Humana and UnitedHealthcare -- as well as by Medicare and a growing number of regional carriers, such as Southern Health in Virginia. Those who are covered by health plans that do not currently have agreements with RediClinic receive specially-formatted receipts that can be filed for possible reimbursement.
RediClinic in-store healthcare facilities are located in the following Richmond-area Wal-Mart Supercenters:
RediClinic operates in 21 H-E-B stores in Houston, Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and in 13 Wal-Mart Supercenters in Tulsa, Okla., Fayetteville and Rogers, Ark. and Richmond, Va. Additional RediClinics are scheduled to open 2008.
For a complete list of locations, services, prices and additional information about RediClinic, visit: http://www.rediclinic.com.
For more information about this program, contact Susan Wadsworth at [email protected] or Dana Green at [email protected].
RediClinic LLC
Since 1989, RediClinic (formerly known as InterFit Health) has provided people with easy access to high-quality, affordable healthcare services. Today the company is the largest independent convenient care operator in the United States, and a leading provider of health-related events that are implemented in retail outlets and employer worksites nationwide. For more information, visit http://www.rediclinic.com
BIOSAFE Laboratories, Inc.
Located in Chicago, Ill., BIOSAFE Laboratories, Inc. develops, manufactures, and processes health monitoring and testing products for the consumer, physician, health screening, occupational health, pharmaceutical, disease-management, and medical research markets. For more information, visit http://www.ebiosafe.com.
Glycemion, Inc.
Glycemion, Inc. is an independent distributor of the BIOSAFE Disease Risk Assessment and other rapid results products and marketing services.
National Center for Public Research
The National Center for Public Research is a nonprofit entity dedicated to providing meaningful and unbiased data and information to improve quality of life, quality of health, and financial wellbeing for all people and communities. For more information, visit: http://www.NationalCenterforPublicResearch.org, http://www.NCforPR.org, or http://www.marigallagher.com.
SOURCE RediClinic LLC
