Aetna offering free laundry service, health screenings on Chicago's West side

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Clean clothes don't just make you look good, they help you feel good, and on Wednesday one healthcare company is offering Chicago families a chance to do their laundry for free and get free health and wellness screenings while the clothes wash and dry.

Aetna Better Health of Illinois, the Medicaid health plan for Aetna, is paying for free laundry for anyone who stops by Your Neighborhood Laundromat, located at 3440 W. Roosevelt Rd. in North Lawndale, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday.

They are also offering health screenings, such as COVID-19 tests, HIV tests, blood pressure tests, and COVID and flu vaccines.

"This flu season and this fall is going to be really bad for respiratory infections. So we want to make sure people have an opportunity to get not only a flu shot, but a COVID-19 vaccine," Emory said.

Each family can get up to two free loads of laundry, as well as activities for kids.

"We're opening a book nook for children. So when families come in to do their laundry, children often run around, have nothing to do. So we decided to open these book nooks where we can provide books on healthy eating and exercise, to encourage health literacy in children," said Dr. Lakshmi Emory, chief medical officer for Aetna Better Health of Illinois. "So we're excited today to see not only our members, but all community members."

Emory said the book nooks also will provide kids a place to do their homework, read, or play educational games while they wait for their parents.

"We're also offering health information for adults, for the parents, on various conditions," Emory said. "We think it's really important to come out into the community, to give people information where they are."

Aetna hosts similar Laundry Day events across the state, in areas considered health deserts – with limited access to hospitals, primary care physicians, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers. Other Laundry Day events have been held in Joliet, Moline, East Chicago,

"We're trying to make sure that we meet our members in the community, but we're opening it up to the entire community. So anyone who comes by is able to have the free laundry, and to have the free screenings that they'd like," Emory said.