Wal-Mart debuts in-store clinics in Maine

Bangor, Maine Wal-Mart Stores said Monday that it opened its first in-store health clinic in the state of Maine on Monday, at the recently opened Stillwater Avenue Supercenter in Bangor.

Additional clinics will open in coming months at stores in Brewer, Palmyra and Presque Isle.

Although Wal-Mart has in-store clinics in many other states, the four northern Maine clinics announced Monday are the first in Maine.

In Bangor and Brewer, the 680-sq.-ft. clinics will be run by Eastern Maine Medical Center through its Norumbega medical practice affiliate. In Palmyra and Presque Isle, they will be operated by Brewer-based Eastern Maine Healthcare Systems, through local affiliates Sebasticook Valley Hospital and The Aroostook Medical Center, respectively.

Acute-care services available at Wal-Mart clinics are limited to the treatment of relatively simple problems such as colds, earaches, sore throats, and minor burns and injuries.

At Supercenters in Brewer and Palmyra, clinics are on schedule to open in January. The Presque Isle Wal-Mart clinic is expected to open in December.