Sweetheart of a Deal: CVS Offers Free Heart-Health Screenings in February
Here’s a fun fact. Our hearts beat about 2.5 billion times over the course of our lives, according to Harvard Medical School.
That’s a lot of work from such a small organ, so how about giving it a little love?
Just drop in to any CVS Pharmacy MinuteClinic on February 7, 14, 21 or 28 for a free heart-health preventative screening to see how your ticker is doing.
You don’t need an appointment to get screened, and you can view wait times on the MinuteClinic website or app.
You will need to fast before your visit to get accurate results.
During the visit, you’ll find out your:
- Total cholesterol
- HDL cholesterol (the good kind)
- Blood pressure
- Blood sugar
- Body mass index (BMI)
The results provide insight on your overall heart health and your risk of cardiovascular disease, the American Heart Association says.
“These screenings are especially important this year following the recent launch of new blood-pressure guidelines from the American Heart Association to improve blood-pressure control and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease,” said Angela Patterson, chief nurse practitioner officer at MinuteClinic.
CVS Health is offering these free screenings to support the American Heart Association’s Go Red For Women movement.
The Go Red campaign aims to raise awareness of heart disease in women, but a CVS representative assured me that free screenings at MinuteClinics are available to people of any gender.
There are over 1,100 MinuteClinics across the country and they’re open seven days a week, including evenings.
If there’s a location near you, there’s really no reason not to stop in on any Wednesday this month for a free screening that can help keep little issues from turning into big ones.
Lisa McGreevy is a staff writer at The Penny Hoarder. She loves telling readers about affordable ways to stay healthy, so look her up on Twitter (@lisah) if you’ve got a tip to share.
