Impact

Maria is 58. She works long hours and helps care for her grandchildren. Like many people in her community, she hasn’t seen a doctor in years. Not because she doesn’t care, but because life gets in the way. Time, cost, transportation, and not knowing where to go all add up. So she keeps going, even when the leg pain starts. She assumes it’s just getting older. At a local community event, she notices a booth offering free health screenings. No appointment. No insurance. Just walk up. That’s where she meets CHAMPIONS.Within minutes, Maria has her blood pressure checked, her cholesterol measured, and her blood sugar tested. For the first time, she learns she has diabetes. A simple, painless test of blood flow to her legs also shows early signs of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Nothing about Maria looks “sick.” But her risk is real. What happens next is what makes CHAMPIONS different. She doesn’t just receive results: she understands them. In her language. In a way that makes sense. She begins to see how her blood sugar, cholesterol, and circulation are connected, and that the leg pain she ignored is not normal. And she leaves with more than information. She leaves with a plan. Before the day is over, she knows where to go, who to call, and how to connect to care. For the first time, she is not navigating the system alone. This is the gap CHAMPIONS was built to close. Across the country, millions of people like Maria are living with undiagnosed vascular disease and its underlying drivers, not because the tools don’t exist, but because the system expects them to come to it. CHAMPIONS changes that. By bringing accurate, accessible screening into communities and ensuring people understand what comes next, we create the opportunity to intervene earlier, when outcomes can still be changed. Because the goal is not just to diagnose disease. It is to meet people earlier in their story and help change what comes next.