Caring for Communities: Why the Future of Health Starts Closer to Home

Health and wellness are deeply personal, and they can be complicated. For many people, the challenge is not a lack of interest in caring for their health, it is access. Care can feel distant when services are hard to reach, time is limited, or the system feels overwhelming. This is especially true in clinical research, where opportunities are often concentrated far from the communities they are meant to serve.

As healthcare evolves, it is becoming clear that meaningful progress happens when care starts closer to home. The future of health will not be built only in large academic medical centers. It will also be shaped in neighborhoods, towns, and rural communities, in places people already trust and rely on every day.

That belief is behind a new initiative from the Walmart Healthcare Research Institute, or WHRI. This spring, WHRI, in collaboration with Care Access, an independent clinical research organization, will open research sites in three former Walmart Health locations and one rural Walmart store. These sites will host on-site, Care Access clinical teams who offer health screenings, share information about research opportunities, and help individuals explore participation in studies without traveling far from home.

For many families, participating in clinical research has never been about willingness. It has been about practicality. Long distances, limited awareness, and competing responsibilities can make research feel out of reach. Bringing research into familiar community settings helps remove those barriers while also opening doors to potential benefits, including early access to innovative treatments and therapies that may shape the future of care. For some participants, research can offer additional options when standard approaches are limited. For all participants, it provides an opportunity to contribute to medical advances that can benefit others in their community and beyond.

These new sites build on WHRI’s no-cost mobile health screening events and create a more consistent local presence for research engagement. They reflect a simple idea: people are more likely to participate when care and information are accessible, welcoming, and part of everyday life.

This same community-centered mindset guides Walmart’s broader approach to health. People want support that fits into their routines and respects their time. When care feels easier to navigate and closer to home, it becomes more approachable and more human.

That is also why pharmacists play such an important role in community health, as highlighted in an article in The New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst. For many people, pharmacists are some of the most trusted and accessible healthcare professionals they know. They provide guidance, preventive care, and ongoing support in settings that feel familiar and trusted. As their role continues to expand, pharmacists are helping bridge gaps in care and connect people to the services and innovations that support better health.

Health does not start in a doctor’s office. It shows up in everyday choices and moments, from managing ongoing conditions to finding answers to simple questions. Walmart’s one-stop Wellness Destination brings together pharmacy, vision care, wellness essentials, healthy foods, nutrition resources, Better Care Services, and digital tools in ways that feel practical and supportive, meeting people where they are.

That commitment comes to life during Walmart’s Wellness Event on Saturday, Jan. 24, when customers can access free health screenings, low-cost immunizations, and wellness consultations at nearly 4,600 pharmacies. For the past 10 years, it’s been one more way Walmart helps make preventive care part of everyday life.

Whether through expanding access to clinical research with WHRI, supporting pharmacists in their evolving role, or offering care in familiar settings, these efforts share a common purpose. When care is closer, it feels more personal. And when communities are supported where they live, health becomes not just something people seek out, but something that truly supports their lives.