Big Y Debuts FastCare In-store Clinic

A Big Y World Class Market in Stafford Springs, Conn., was the venue for the grand opening of the first Johnson Memorial Hospital-affiliated retail health clinic. The FastCare Clinic is accessed via a separate entrance but located next to the supermarket.

“Accessibility to high-quality, low-cost health care is a priority at our FastCare facility,” said Stuart E. Rosenberg, president of Johnson Memorial Hospital, also based in Stafford Springs. “We are pleased to develop this relationship with Big Y to provide world-class, non-urgent health care services in the communities where our patients live and work.”

With the store's pharmacy nearby, patients from the area can meet their basic health care needs in one convenient site. Prescriptions may also be scheduled for pickup at other locations.

“Our customers already enjoy the ease and convenience of one-stop shopping by being able to have their prescriptions filled while shopping for groceries and nutritional meal solutions, and to now offer the added accessibility of this low-cost health care facility is just one more way in which we can help enhance the services available to our local community and neighbors." Noted Nicole D’Amour Schneider, director of pharmacy at Springfield, Mass.-based Big Y.

The site is staffed by advanced-practice registered nurses (APRNs) who are licensed to prescribe medications; provide care for common, non-urgent conditions such as cold and flu symptoms; administer flu and shingles vaccines, along with standard vaccinations for adults and children; treat ear infections, insect bites, poison ivy, minor sunburn, ear wax removal, sinus infections and sore throat; and conduct physical exams. FastCare treats patients 18 months of age or older on a walk-in basis, with no appointments necessary, and accepts most insurances. A visit costs $79, including basic lab tests.

Green Bay, Wis.-based Bellin Health, a not-for-profit, integrated health care delivery system, developed the FastCare brand of convenient care clinics in 2006. FastCare teams with health systems and retailers nationwide to offer convenient health care services in the community. To date, there are more than 30 FastCare locations operating in 10 states with 20 health system partners.

One of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England, family-owned and –operated Big Y operates 75 stores throughout Connecticut and Massachusetts, with more than 11,000 employees.