Walmart 2004 Annual Report Download - page 6

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4
Wal-Mart Associates know their Company is eager to
develop their skills, advance their careers and help them
in times of need. Career opportunities are unlimited for
Associates with the will to learn, and our Company is
committed to providing a variety of meaningful
employment opportunities for them.
Thousands of stories have been shared worldwide about
Wal-Mart’s dedication to its Associates. Here are just a few:
James McKinney
As personnel manager for
a Wal-Mart Distribution
Center in New Albany,
Miss., James McKinney
was very familiar with the
open-enrollment video
for the Company’s
medical plan.The video
described families who
were hit hard by
catastrophic medical
events,but survived the
financial burden due to
the Company’s good
health insurance.
Then, in 2002, James and
his wife, Dawn, suffered
through a medical crisis
of their own. At 9 months
of age, their son, Preston,
began to crawl, but a
few months later, he
mysteriously stopped.
At 13 months, he seemed to be regressing in his
development.Trusting their instincts, they consulted with
a neurologist, and a CT scan revealed that a very large
tumor had developed on the left side of Preston’s brain.
At one point, James and Dawn were told that their son’s
brain cancer had only a 5-percent rate of cure.So in
September 2002, their doctor offered them a choice: they
could go ahead with surgery to remove the tumor or take
their son home on morphine, with the knowledge that he
would not live more than one or two months.The doctor
told them that due to the high expense of the surgery
and the low odds of success, many people have to base
their decision on the quality of their health insurance
plan. Preston might not survive the surgery, they were
told, and if he did, he would be blind and unable to use
the right side of his body.
Fortunately, Preston was covered by the Wal-Mart
Associates’Medical Plan.
“We decided we would do the surgery,” says James
McKinney. “Though he was supposed to be left blind by
the surgery, five days later, Preston was following a
pompon with his eyes.”
Good Jobs, Good Careers
James and Preston McKinney