The health professional programs at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus and King Soopers today announced three new initiatives aimed at expanding health and wellness services throughout the Front Range.

The CU School of Medicine, College of Nursing and Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, along with University Physicians, Inc., King Soopers and The Little Clinic have entered into a clinical affiliation agreement. Under the agreement, The Little Clinic locations inside select King Soopers will provide training to students from the CU Anschutz Medical Campus and CU School of Medicine faculty will serve on the advisory board as well as participate in collaborative health care between the physicians and The Little Clinic. Globally, the partners will collaborate on programs and services that bring health and wellness related activities to our communities.

“We share a common goal with King Soopers and The Little Clinic to strengthen our communities by working together to ensure access to health and wellness services,” said Lilly Marks, vice president for health affairs for the University of Colorado and executive vice chancellor for the CU Anschutz Medical Campus. “Solutions to some of the more preventable health issues of our time can only be discovered through innovative programs and partnerships such as these.”

The Little Clinic currently operates at 14 locations in select King Soopers across the Front Range.

“We look forward to exploring how our organizations can leverage our respective strengths to improve healthcare delivery to Denver area consumers. The affiliation will range from training opportunities for students to expanding our scope of services to potential formal arrangements with their physicians,” said Dr. Ken Patric. “Our service delivery model is based on providing the quality care patients need, when they need it. By working with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, our goal is to increase access to care. Our clinics are open seven days a week and are geographically dispersed, giving The Little Clinic the ability to see patients close to where they work, live, and shop.”

This affiliation agreement follows two other programs at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus already supported by the grocer, including an educational grocery lab at the new Anschutz Health and Wellness Center. This project aims to help consumers get the most nutrition out of their food shopping dollars. The lab will help shoppers improve their diet quality to help them eat healthier, lose weight or meet nutritional requirements to manage health conditions such as diabetes.

While the grocery lab works with adults, a third program, called 5th Gear, connects with children. The Anschutz Health and Wellness Center along with Children’s Hospital Colorado, the Aurora Public Schools, the Cherry Creek School District and King Soopers designed the program to address the rising rates of childhood obesity. 5th Gear wants to empower the children in Colorado so they are confident in making healthy nutrition choices.

“King Soopers is honored to work with the health professional schools at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to provide Coloradoans access to health in multiple venues,” said Russ Dispense, president of King Soopers.

Additional programs including a mammography van are in the planning stages.

King Soopers, Colorado’s own full-service retail grocery chain, opened the doors of its first store in June of 1947. Today the company employs more than 19,000 people and has 143 stores. The company is committed to being a good corporate citizen with a special focus on four major categories: feeding the hungry, helping children, supporting women’s health issues, participating in important civic/community events. King Soopers’ mission is to be a leader in the distribution and merchandising of food, health, personal care, and related consumable products and services. By achieving this objective, the company satisfies its responsibilities to shareowners, associates, customers, suppliers, and the communities we serve. In 2012, The Kroger Company and their family of stores were named most generous company in America by Forbes Magazine.

Founded in 2003 and headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., The Little Clinic is a pioneer in customer-focused healthcare with a mission to provide convenient, affordable healthcare and wellness education. A wholly-owned subsidiary of The Kroger Co, The Little Clinic healthcare clinics are currently located inside select Kroger stores in Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio; King Soopers in Colorado and Fry’s Food Stores in Arizona. The Little Clinic was awarded The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval™ in 2009 and obtained reaccreditation in 2012.