Walgreens Health and Wellness President Hal F. Rosenbluth to Retire In April; Will Continue with Company as Senior Consultant
Walgreens (NYSE: WAG)(NASDAQ: WAG) today announced that Hal F. Rosenbluth will retire as President of its Health and Wellness division in April, but will continue with the company as a senior consultant to the CEO for health care services.
“As patients increasingly become shoppers of health care, continuing to grow our services through our Take Care retail clinics and worksite health centers headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa., is central to executing our strategy of improving access and convenience in meeting the everyday needs of our patients and customers”
Rosenbluth was a co-founder of Take Care Health Systems, which was acquired by Walgreens in 2007. Prior to that, he led Rosenbluth International, a global travel management company, which he sold to American Express in 2003.
“Hal’s entrepreneurial spirit was instrumental to Walgreens as we expanded our pharmacy, health and wellness services through our Take Care retail clinics and worksite health centers,” said Walgreens President and CEO Greg Wasson. “He helped these businesses become key components of Walgreens broad set of health and wellness offerings. Under Hal’s leadership we have successfully restructured our sales and client services organization and have added to our clinical capabilities. We thank Hal for his vision, drive and commitment to help position our company for the future. Hal will continue to provide valuable counsel in this dynamically changing health care environment.”
Walgreens intends to continue to expand its pharmacy, health and wellness solutions to become America’s number one choice for health and daily living needs. “As patients increasingly become shoppers of health care, continuing to grow our services through our Take Care retail clinics and worksite health centers headquartered in Conshohocken, Pa., is central to executing our strategy of improving access and convenience in meeting the everyday needs of our patients and customers,” added Wasson.
“With our sales and client services organization now set up for success, and our health and wellness solutions further integrated within the company, this is the right time for me to make this transition,” Rosenbluth said. “It has been an honor and a privilege to be part of Walgreens, a company committed to providing affordable, accessible and high quality healthcare to meet the growing needs of this country.”
As part of Walgreens community based health solutions, the Take Care retail clinics and worksite health centers, led by Peter Hotz, will now report into Mark Wagner, President of the company’s Community Management division. The sales and client services organization, led by Chief Client Officer Joe Terrion, and clinical services, led by Chief Medical Officer Cheryl Pegus, will become part of the Walgreens Pharmacy, Health and Wellness Services and Solutions division, under Kermit Crawford, President of the division.
Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) is the nation’s largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2010 sales of $67 billion. The company operates 7,670 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each day, Walgreens provides nearly 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with pharmacy benefit solutions and respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.
Tips for creating an employee wellness plan
Tracey Yukich knows the importance of better health. After ballooning to 250 pounds, the 5-foot-2 Allen, Texas, woman went on the NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser” and lost 125 pounds in eight months.
Now, the 39-year-old mother of four preaches the gospel of good health as a motivational speaker for New York-based benefits consulting firm Towers Watson, where she talks to employees of the company’s clients at health fairs about the importance of participating in corporate wellness programs.
“First of all, employers have to get their employees excited,” Yukich said.
Time’s up: Take heed of food and product expiry dates
Expiry. Best before. Packaged on. If you’ve got a world-class headache or a stomach grumbling for something to fill it, you may be tempted to ignore those dates on drugs and food. What happens if you do? Well, that depends.
Expiry date
You’ll find expiry dates on the labels of prescribed drugs, over-the-counter products, like vitamins and cough and cold remedies, and on such fortified foods as infant formula and nutritional supplements. In Canada and the United States, regulations state that properly stored products must still have 90 per cent of their original potency at expiry.
Surprisingly, studies conducted by the United States Food and Drug Administration for the American military have found that more than 85 per cent of medicines are still safe and effective far past their expiration date. In one case, a product was still good 14 years after its expiry date.
However, the United States military keeps its drugs stored under ideal temperatures and conditions. Most of us are less fastidious, leading to faster degradation of drugs.
“We get calls all the time about expired products,” says Scott Watson, owner of Watson’s Pharmacy and Wellness Centre in Ottawa. “There’s an unspoken rule that if it’s relatively close to the expiry date, it’s probably OK, but we really don’t know. So, our profession says, ‘If it’s past its expiry date, don’t use it.’ ”
Instead, he says, take the drugs to a pharmacy for safe disposal. There should be no charge for the service.
The website, askyourpharmacist.ca, hosted by a team of Ontario pharmacists, says that in very rare cases, a drug’s composition could change over time, making it potentially hazardous. It cautions never to use antibiotics, seizure or heart medications, and other critical drugs past their expiry date.
The site also warns not to use eye drops and ointments longer than four weeks after opening regardless of the expiry date. The medicine can become contaminated, leading to eye infections.
Best before
Under Canada’s Food and Drugs Act, which also regulates expiry and packaging information, a best-before date must appear on prepackaged foods with a shelf life of 90 days or less.
A product’s best-before date “means it is best for you before this date,” says Elizabeth (Beth) Mansfield, a registered dietitian in Ottawa. “Manufacturers look at how long things, like vitamin C, stay at the level listed on the package to determine the best-before date.”
If you’ve ever bought “day-old” bread, you’ll know freshness and flavour may also degrade after the date.
Best-before dates don’t guarantee product safety and apply only to unopened products, warns the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) fact sheet on date labelling of prepackaged foods. Once opened, a product’s shelf life can change.
Storage is critical. A report by CBC News in 2009 cautioned that while the CFIA said an opened bottle of mayonnaise could probably be safely kept in the refrigerator for up to four months after its best-before date, the same jar left for hours on a countertop during warm, humid weather could be dangerous.
While it is legal in Canada to sell products after their best-before date provided they are safe for human consumption, it is illegal to sell products after an expiry date.
A recent discovery that some Canadian Toys “R” Us stores had sold expired baby formula reminded us that retailers aren’t always as conscientious as they should be, and that the onus is on consumers to check dates before buying anything.
Packaged on
Packaged-on dates are required on meat. You should be able to find a chart at the meat counter that tells you how long it’s safe to eat the product after the date. A roast of beef can sit in your refrigerator for up to five days before cooking, but ground beef should be either used immediately or frozen.
Storing meat in the fridge slows the growth of harmful pathogens such as E. coli and salmonella, but it doesn’t stop them.
And never, warns the CFIA, assume you can trust your nose, eyes or tastebuds to identify spoiled food. If you have any doubts, make a beeline for the garbage can.
