By Zanub Saeed
Walmart announced that it will installing the ScripTalk program via En-Vision America, which is a talking prescription system that will help those who have trouble reading standard print find out more about their medication.
The test program, which will be available in three Walmart branches in the Midwestern states of Alabama, Missouri, and Colorado, will help customers get better and easier access to their medication, especially when the prescription print cannot be read, said a press release issued by Walmart Stores, Inc., on Friday. The program will be offered for free to the blind and visually-impaired consumers across the country via Walmart's online mail order service, as well as the three in-site centers listed.
"For more than 21.5 million Americans living with significant vision loss, properly identifying and taking prescription medications is challenging because they can't read container labeling," Paul Schroeder, vice president for programs and policy, American Foundation for the Blind, stated for the press release. "The Walmart pilot program addresses this often overlooked public health challenge."
Walmart will be working with the American Foundation for the Blind, the American Council of the Blind, and the California Council of the Blind to help test the program to assist the visually-impaired, listed the press release.
An electric chip will be embedded into the standard print prescription label via ScripTalk, and in order to hear the information, the consumer would have to be place the drug bottle on the ScripTalk device and press the required button.
The three stores that will have the ScripTalk system available are the Walmart on 214 Haynes St. in Talladega, Ala.; the Tupelo, Mo., branch on 2270 W. Main St.; and the Englewood, Colo. Store located on 601 Englewood Pkwy.
"Today's announcement demonstrates Walmart's significant leadership in serving its customers with visual impairments," Mitch Pomerantz, president, American Council of the Blind, was quoted as stating for the press release. "This pilot is an important step in ensuring that people who cannot read standard print get the information they need to safely take prescription medications."
