Latest news with #Bentonville
Yahoo
a day ago
- Health
- Yahoo
The World's Richest Woman Has Opened a Medical School
Aerial overview of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine Credit - Timothy Hursley—Courtesy of Alice L. Walton School of Medicine On July 14, 48 students walked through the doors of the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Bentonville, Ark. to become its inaugural class. Some came from neighboring cities, others from urban centers in Michigan and New York. Almost all had a choice in where they could become doctors but took a chance on the new school because of its unique approach to rethinking medical education. Named after its founder—the world's richest woman and an heir to the Walmart fortune—the school will train students over the next four years in a radically different way from the method most traditional medical schools use. And that's the point. Instead of drilling young physicians to chase symptom after symptom and perform test after test, Alice Walton wants her school's graduates to keep patients healthy by practicing something that most doctors today don't prioritize: preventive medicine and whole-health principles, which involve caring for (and not just treating) the entire person and all of the factors—from their mental health to their living conditions and lifestyle choices—that contribute to wellbeing. Those aren't new ideas, of course, but traditional medicine has only paid lip service to them. Experts have noted that while as much as 80% of medical education focuses on biology, about 60% of premature deaths are due to behavioral factors including lifestyle habits like diet, exercise, and smoking. 'I applied to 34 schools, and nowhere else are they doing this,' says Ellie Andrew-Vaughn, who arrived in Bentonville from Ann Arbor, Mich. 'I heard whispers about the school back in December 2021,' says Rebecca Wilson, who grew up in nearby Cave Springs and plans to remain in Arkansas to improve the health care there. 'Hearing how revolutionary their outlook on medicine was, and how it was a part of the DNA and not something adapted to the curriculum like some of the other schools—that was unique.' Read More: The Race to Explain Why More Young Adults Are Getting Cancer Visually, the school lives up to its acronym: AWSOM. The building, with soaring glass walls, is located on Walton family property and includes not just a wellness studio and gym, but a rooftop park, healing gardens where students can study, growing gardens for producing healthy foods, and a reflection pond. A path from the rooftop park leads through the Ozark forest directly to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, which Walton built in 2011, as a reminder to the students about the link between healing, art, science, and humanity. Walton is covering tuition for the first five graduating classes. For her investment, Walton anticipates that some of the newly minted doctors will bring what they learn to the local community—specifically to underserved areas in Arkansas, Walton's home state. But her grander vision is for the model she creates to be mirrored at other medical schools across the country—so that what started in northwest Arkansas can spread to other regions with few health resources. Creating a new medical school in 2025 isn't an easy or obvious project, especially when the mission is to redesign medical education. 'My brother Jim said, 'Oh, that's a big undertaking, Alice.' I think my big brother was trying to protect me from myself,' she says with a smile. But Walton's firsthand experience as a patient set her on this path. After a serious car accident in the 1980s, she battled a bone infection, multiple surgeries, and lingering health issues for more than a decade. Walton grew convinced that 'our health care system is broken' and that someone needed to catalyze change. A broken system Medicine in the U.S. has long incentivized doctors to respond to people's symptoms—by ordering many rounds of tests and procedures, to name two cost-driving examples—rather than trying to prevent them in the first place. The doctor-patient conversations that should be at the heart of effective medical care are rare today, and patients are saddled with exorbitant fees that haven't always contributed to better health outcomes. The system also contributes to care deserts in rural America. Arkansas, in particular, ranks 48th out of the 50 states in the share of adults in fair or poor health. The state also has the highest maternal death and teen birth rates in the U.S. Where do you start if you want to recreate health care from scratch? There isn't a single solution, and any strategy needs to account for not just how doctors are trained and practice medicine, but also the financial incentives that currently drive those practices. In 2019, Walton founded the Heartland Whole Health Institute, located steps from the new medical school, which focuses on research, health advocacy, and education about the policies and financial systems necessary to advance preventive care. With AWSOM, she is turning her attention to finding a better way to train the people who will populate that system: future doctors. 'They will get all the science and disease knowledge they need to manage the 'sick-care' side of things,' Walton says. But 'I wanted to create a school that really gives doctors the ability to focus on how to keep their patients healthy.' That includes integrating emerging technologies like AI and digital health innovations that can help people track and manage health conditions like diabetes, obesity, and blood pressure. 'We are in a huge transition point right now in terms of technology,' she says. 'I'm really excited about the potential.' An art-infused curriculum Her vision for an innovative curriculum at the medical school began taking shape after a meeting with Dr. Lloyd Minor, dean of the Stanford School of Medicine and a fellow Arkansan, who became AWSOM's chair of the board of directors. (AWSOM also has a formal collaboration with Stanford, in which half a dozen of the university's faculty will teach incoming students and mentor both students and faculty.) To helm the school, Walton chose Dr. Sharmila Makhija, a gynecologic cancer surgeon from Alabama who shared Walton's commitment to whole-health principles and improving the quality of health care in the South. 'The foundation [of the curriculum] is traditional medicine but enhanced with the humanities and the arts to improve the delivery of care—so we improve on how we [act] with patients and how we partner with patients,' says Makhija. Read More: The Surprising Reason Rural Hospitals Are Closing Walton's personal passion for art informed and infused the new school's humanities-based approach. Introduced to watercolors by her mother, she made her first art purchase—a print of Picasso's Blue Nude—as a child from her father's Walton's 5 & 10 in Bentonville. As an adult, she collected key pieces of American art spanning five centuries, then founded the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville to share what is now a collection of more than 3,500 pieces with the community, for free. 'Art was a foreign thing here,' she says. 'Museums weren't a part of our life.' But when the museum opened in 2011, it resonated, becoming a center for social events. Crystal Bridges and AWSOM are physically attached for a reason. An integral part of the medical school curriculum involves exposure to and appreciation for the lessons that healers can learn from art. 'In the time I was going in and out of hospitals, I had to grab whatever I could find to keep my sanity,' Walton says of how painting watercolors and reading art books helped in her recovery. 'I do believe the art world and the health care world need to collide more, and both will benefit from it.' All students will take a course, for example, that involves drawing one another and studying pieces in the museum. The hope is to sharpen their skills of observation and empathy. 'It sounds basic, but you start to talk about, 'What did it feel like to observe someone closely, or how did it feel to be seen?'' says Makhija. 'It's not a usual way in the medical world to think and talk, so it's a different language, but that's part of the goal: to help them understand different modes of speaking, understanding, and relating to others.' On a wintry January day, Walton walks through the museum's installation and stops at one of her favorites: a gigantic depiction of the opening words of the U.S. Constitution, 'We the People.' The original calligraphy is recreated with thousands of shoelaces in different colors and fabrics. On the opposite wall, Walton chose to place an array of portraits of 'who we are as people,' she says, ranging from one of George Washington painted by Charles Willson Peale in the early 1780s to a digital installation featuring a fracking worker from North Dakota—'two of my boyfriends George and Johnny,' as Walton describes them. The series also includes the first known portrait of an American, painted in Colonial times, and a portrait of a Black woman painted after the Ferguson riots. 'We don't only go by time periods,' she says of the way the pieces in the museum are displayed. 'Some of the fun is putting George and Johnny together.' The installation spans pieces from all time periods, all races, and all walks of life—a theme she infuses in the medical school as well. 'Health care is the most inequitable,' she says. 'A lot of that is because we don't have doctors and health-care providers who look like a lot of people. It is a big issue, and it is a huge piece of the problem in why people don't get health care.' Read More: How Health Insurance Monopolies Affect Your Care Walton believes that every piece should be displayed and enjoyed by the public, not tucked away in storage. So in 2017, she created the Art Bridges program, a collaboration with more than 250 smaller museums around the country that essentially extends the available wall space for pieces by rotating works constantly. That same focus on putting the community first infuses the training that the new medical students receive so that they never lose sight of why they became physicians: to serve the patients that need them the most. To reiterate their broader role in society as healers, all of the new students started community service work on their third day on campus. 'We expect the students, the faculty, everybody to be of service to the community,' says Makhija. 'Wherever they go to work, they've got to understand who they are serving.' Doctors of the future About 2,000 students applied to the school's 48 spots, and many who were chosen share an interest in bringing health care to underserved regions, particularly Arkansas. One is Emily Bunch, who grew up in Little Rock and was drawn to the school's focus on nutrition education, which traditional medical schools tend to gloss over. While the medical school accreditation organization recommends that curriculums devote at least 25 hours of instruction to nutrition, most schools average about 20 hours, in some cases only as electives. AWSOM's curriculum currently includes more than 50 hours of nutrition-related training, including culinary classes. Doctors-to-be will spend class time gardening and at a teaching farm, learning about the seasonality of fresh foods and how to cook them—then passing those lessons onto patients. 'There is a lack of understanding of nutrition and so much exposure to fast food,' Bunch says of her own struggles with weight and finding healthy food options growing up. 'It wasn't until a doctor talked to me about nutrition in a whole-health way that I understood the mental and psychological aspects of weight, and that empowered me to finally take control of my health.' 'It's a big problem in Arkansas and a big part of the reason I wanted to become a doctor—to serve as a guide for other people,' Bunch says. 'Arkansas desperately needs more whole-health and preventive care.' Read More: 10 Questions You Should Always Ask at Doctors' Appointments As part of their training, students will also have the opportunity to design parts of their curriculum through research projects and community service. The hope is that these will lead to novel ways of delivering care and improving health outcomes, especially for communities that current health care services don't reach. Safwan Sarker, from Brooklyn, is eager to find ways to improve home-based care by integrating high-tech tools like virtual reality and augmented reality for underserved populations. 'There aren't enough people researching these [strategies],' he says. 'So people dismiss them. But AWSOM is encouraging us to look at new systems and new ways to help populations like those in rural communities. If they aren't getting their medications on time, would a drone-based system work? Once we get the evidence-based framework for these novel methods, they could lead the way in terms of bridging gaps.' Both Walton and Makhija know their graduates will face challenges in bringing what they learn in the classroom to the real world. 'We can have whatever curriculum we want, but if they are thrown out in an environment where they are not practicing whole health, then it's for naught,' says Walton. The new graduates must be part of the solution to change that, she believes. AWSOM partnered with the local health system, Mercy, which will not only provide clinical exposure to the doctors-in-training but also implement some of the whole-patient approaches the school is hoping to introduce, including initially with a cardiac care center. There are signs this approach has appeal beyond the heartland. Already, Makhija says a few health systems have contacted her about AWSOM's whole-health focus, and Walton hopes the school will serve as a model of a new type of medical education. 'It's all about rethinking and re-envisioning what the education of the next generation of health care workers will be like,' says Makhija. 'Alice and I are very keen on creating a sustainable model of education, both in how we deliver the curriculum that can be replicated, as well as fiscally, so that other schools can use a similar model.' If successful, AWSOM could prove that medical school should, and can, be about more than just biology and anatomy. It can also be about what drives a person, and what feeds them—literally, figuratively, spiritually. Walton is delighted to watch the future of health care take root in the places where she played as a child, especially since the area desperately needs better health solutions. 'It's going to be really exciting and fun to see what happens,' she says. Contact us at letters@ Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Nuqleous Announces Strategic Investment from Rubicon Technology Partners and Appointment of Ben Cronin as Chief Executive Officer
Investment positions Nuqleous to accelerate growth and further expand leadership position in the retail analytics software market BENTONVILLE, Ark., July 16, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Nuqleous, a provider of space planning and retail analytics software solutions, announced that it has secured a strategic majority investment from Rubicon Technology Partners ("Rubicon") designed to accelerate product innovation and support the company's long-term growth objectives. In conjunction, Nuqleous has appointed Ben Cronin, a seasoned executive with over two decades of experience in the retail and supply chain software sector, as its new Chief Executive Officer. Founded initially as Rock Solid Retail, Nuqleous provides enterprise solutions to transform retail data into actionable insights that enable intelligent decision-making for leading consumer packaged goods companies. Nuqleous' market position is based on its data accuracy, ability to normalize multiple sources of complex data streams, and a comprehensive suite of tools for data discovery and business intelligence serving category managers, retail sales, and supply chain teams. Garrett Levey and Bill Kloza, who served as co-CEOs of Nuqleous since 2023, said "This investment marks a powerful endorsement of the platform, people, and purpose we've built together. We couldn't be prouder of our team — their relentless focus on customer success and innovation has brought us to this milestone. With Rubicon's partnership and Ben's leadership, we're poised to scale our impact and deliver even greater value to the brands and retailers we serve." Levey and Kloza will both continue to serve on the Board of Directors. Ben Cronin joins Nuqleous with a distinguished track record of scaling enterprise software businesses and partnering with major retailers, including prior experience as SVP of CPG at e2open. He added "I am incredibly excited to lead Nuqleous through the next phase of its growth journey as we continue to build on the market-leading platform that Bill, Garrett, and our talented team has developed. Our goal remains to deliver powerful, innovative tools that enable our customers to harness retail data and drive smarter, faster insights as a strategic partner to drive their growth objectives." "Our investment in Nuqleous represents the continuation of Rubicon's long-standing commitment to backing innovative technologies and support CPG brands and retailers," said Evan Howell, Principal at Rubicon Technology Partners. "We've had the opportunity to get to know Ben Cronin and deeply respect the leadership, experience, and strategic vision he brings to Nuqleous. We have a strong conviction in what we can accomplish together as we embark on this next chapter of growth." Raymond James served as the exclusive financial advisor to Nuqleous. About Nuqleous Nuqleous provides mission-critical data analytics and space planning automation software for over 180 consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands globally. With deep expertise in retail data systems, Nuqleous' suite of applications – including Shelf IQ, Retail Analytics, and Presentation Builder – enables sales, category management, replenishment, logistics, and enterprise IT teams to derive insights faster and more efficiently, optimize retail execution, and accelerate growth. To learn more about Nuqleous, please visit About Rubicon Technology Partners Rubicon Technology Partners is a middle-market private equity firm that invests in enterprise software companies with innovative products and talented management teams to help grow and scale their businesses. Rubicon utilizes a collaborative approach to enable companies to adapt to the changing requirements of their businesses as they grow and scale using a set of proprietary processes, best practices and a portfolio-wide engagement model. Rubicon has over $4 billion in assets under management and is headquartered in Boulder, Colorado with additional offices in New Haven, Connecticut and San Mateo, California. To learn more about Rubicon, please visit Media Contact: Media@ | (833) 687-5368 View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Nuqleous Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Walmart recalls 850,000 water bottles after 2 blinded by exploding caps. What to know
Walmart is recalling about 850,000 water bottles because two people were blinded after being hit in the eye by the cap. Here's more on what happened and how to check if you have this water bottle. According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the lid poses "serious impact and laceration hazards" because it can forcefully eject when a consumer attempts to open the capped bottles after food, carbonated beverages or perishable beverages, such as juice or milk, are stored inside over time. The retail giant based in Bentonville, Arkansas, has received three reports of consumers who were injured when struck in the face by a lid forcefully ejected from these bottles upon opening, per the CPSC. Two consumers suffered permanent vision loss after being struck in the eye. Walmart improvements: Walmart to remodel 23 stores across Ohio this year. Here's where. See the full list The recall involves Ozark Trail 64 oz. stainless steel insulated water bottles sold with model number 83-662 on the product packaging. The bottles are silver with a black one-piece screwcap lid. They measure 4.41 x 4.41 x 11.5 inches and there is an Ozark Trail logo embedded on the side of the bottle. The model number does not appear on the product. The bottles have been sold at Walmart stores nationwide and online at since 2017 for about $15. If you have the recalled water bottle, stop using it immediately and contact Walmart for a full refund. Consumers can bring the bottle to their nearest Walmart store for a refund. Walmart operates 138 supercenters in Ohio, including seven in Cincinnati, five in Columbus, three in Dayton, two each in Canton, Dublin and Hamilton, and one in Akron. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Walmart water bottle recall: 2 blinded by exploding caps. Full list
Globe and Mail
14-07-2025
- Health
- Globe and Mail
Deep Roots Chiropractic Health Center Offers Natural Pain Management in Bentonville
Tired of waking up feeling like your spine lost a fight with your mattress? You're not alone—and you're not out of luck. Deep Roots Chiropractic Health Center in Bentonville is helping locals say goodbye to chronic pain and hello to natural, drug-free relief. Tired of waking up feeling like your spine lost a fight with your mattress? You're not alone—and you're not out of luck. Deep Roots Chiropractic Health Center in Bentonville is helping locals say goodbye to chronic pain and hello to natural, drug-free relief. Conveniently located at 103 SW Winsted Ln Suite 25, Deep Roots NWA is quickly becoming the go-to clinic for people who want real solutions—not just symptom patches. As a trusted back pain chiropractor in Bentonville, the team focuses on treating the root cause of pain so you can feel better—and stay that way. 'We don't hand out quick fixes,' said Dr. Ryan Carlson of Deep Roots Chiropractic Health Center. 'We help people reclaim their health with long-term solutions that actually work.' Whether you're dealing with back, neck, or shoulder pain—or just feel like your body's been sending out distress signals—Deep Roots offers care that's customized, effective, and refreshingly honest. Their back and shoulder pain clinic approach blends gentle chiropractic adjustments with lifestyle support to help your body heal naturally. What sets them apart? From young professionals to busy parents to retirees, Bentonville residents are turning to Deep Roots for real results—and five-star care in a calm, welcoming space. If your current routine includes painkillers, heating pads, and crossed fingers, it may be time to try something better. To learn more or book your first visit, head over to Media Contact Company Name: Deep Roots Health Center Contact Person: Dr. Ryan Carlson Email: Send Email Phone: 479-334-0219 Address: 103 SW Winsted Ln #25 City: Bentonville State: AR Country: United States Website:
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Glucose Health, Inc. Formulations Have Always Been Free of Artificial Colors & Synthetic Dyes—Our Competitors Are Only Playing Catch-Up
BENTONVILLE, Ark., July 09, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Glucose Health, Inc. (OTC: GLUC), the leading innovator in soluble fiber powdered drink mixes for metabolic wellness, proudly affirms that its flagship brands, GlucoDown® and Fiber Up®, have always used only natural colors derived from vegetables such as beets and carrots—never any artificial synthetic dyes. Unlike our legacy competitors such as Metamucil® (The Procter & Gamble Company, P&G), which have long relied on synthetic dyes like Yellow 6 and Red 40, Glucose Health, Inc. committed to nutritionally efficacious, clean-label formulation, from our GlucoDown® brand's inception in 2017 – more than eight years ago. Now, amid the regulatory shift under U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., our much larger competitors are facing pressure to finally reformulate and catch-up with Glucose Health, Inc. Artificial synthetic dyes have long been used by manufacturers to create visually appealing drinks for consumers. While natural coloring alternatives from vegetables have existed for decades, the low cost of synthetic dyes improves profit margins—particularly and often prioritized by management and shareholders of large companies. Glucose Health, Inc. has never resorted to such shortcuts. Our natural coloring ingredients from vegetables cost our small company significantly more but reflect our always science-first approach to formulation and our dedication to transparency and consumer trust. In addition to excluding artificial synthetic dyes, GlucoDown® and Fiber Up® also contain no preservatives such as sodium benzoate, or fillers like silicon dioxide—both commonly found in our competitor's products. Instead, our drink mixes are formulated exclusively around 100% soluble dietary fiber and natural flavors, delivering a clean nutritional profile unmatched in the dietary fiber and diabetic nutrition categories. This science-based approach extends to our patent-pending metabolic nutrition formulation underpinning GlucoDown® and Fiber Up®, which uniquely supports metabolic wellness, most importantly including balanced glucose and cholesterol levels. Glucose Health, Inc. is positioned at the forefront of soluble fiber-based nutrition products at a time when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has formally designated dietary fiber a nutrient of public health concern due to chronic underconsumption by most Americans.1 While legacy brands scramble to clean up their ingredient lists, Glucose Health, Inc. proudly reaffirms that GlucoDown® and Fiber Up® have always been naturally colored and preservative-free—by design, not by regulatory necessity. Contact:Glucose Health, ¹ U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2020–2025. 9th Edition. December 2020. Available at in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
