Walgreens Giving Free Care to Jobless and Uninsured

Channel 5 News NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Drugstore operator Walgreens will offer free clinic visits to the unemployed and uninsured for the rest of the year. Walgreens said patients who lose their job and health insurance after March 31 will be able to get free treatment at its in-store Take Care clinics for respiratory problems, allergies, infections and skin conditions, among other ailments. Lauren Tenneui decided to come to the Take Care Clinic located inside Walgreens where nurse practitioners handle a number of minor health problems. "Being sick doesn't stop when you loose your job, so I hope they continue to do it," said Tenneui. Typically those treatments cost $59 or more for patients with no insurance. "Doctors are really busy seeing patients more sick than I am, so I am not feeling well. I was on my way home, so I knew I needed some medicine so I came here," said Tenneui. The program is expected to last through the end of 2009. Walgreens runs 341 Take Care clinics in 35 markets around the country. Click here to find a location nearest you. Anyone who is a currently a patient and lose their job as of April 1st, qualify for the clinic's free services. "They will have had to been a patient of ours before loosing their job, so if we can pull them up in the system, we know they have been here," said nurse practitioner, Donna Finto-Burks. The free services will be offered only from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Walgreens said it will not offer free checkups, vaccinations or other injections. Patients must present proof they are unemployed, including a federal or state unemployment determination letter and an unemployment check stub. Spouses and children are also eligible for free services if they don't have insurance of their own. (The Associated Press contributed to this story.)