Wawa Offers One-Stop Shopping – For Employees' Health Care

By Ian Bush

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Wawa is testing a service for its employees that brings the doctor right to the parking lot.

On a busy day, there's barely time for a quick stop for a cup of coffee or a sandwich.

But those serving you also have a full plate, "A tremendous number of our associates had had not seen a primary care doctor in years."

So a new Wawa pilot program, now at around 30 stores, has a physician making house calls.  Todd Lombardi, the director of compensation and benefits at the chain, says a Radnor-based doctor, Rocklan Walker, sees patients in the parking lot, in a converted Mercedes passenger van.

"Many associates have told good stories about the positive outcomes that they've had as result of meeting with Dr Walker, changes they've made to help improve their overall health."

It's part of the employee wellness plan, so there's no cost to the workers. Lombardi says there's also a bottom-line benefit to keeping them healthy: "It is one of those wonderful intersections between doing something that's fantastic for the associates that also makes wonderful business sense for us."