Since 2018, Mount Carmel Health System has offered a diabetes prevention program for residents across central Ohio including Pickerington.
The year-long program, approved and funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was first offered to residents in Madison, Pickaway and Fairfield counties and has since expanded to other central Ohio counties.
The program targets people who are prediabetic, which means people whose blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be diagnosed as diabetic.
Studies have shown one out of three people have prediabetes, and most of them don’t know it. Without weight loss or moderate physical activity, many people with prediabetes can develop diabetes within five years.
In the program, qualifying individuals work with trained lifestyle coaches in a group setting to improve eating habits, reduce weight and increase physical activity to help prevent the onset of diabetes.
“This is a great lifestyle change,” says Roxann Payne, the manager of Mount Carmel Urban Health Management, program which oversees the diabetes prevention program.
Participants learn how to read nutrition labels and how many carbohydrates to consume each meal, among other topics. The goals of the program are to increase a participant’s activity to 150 minutes per week and lose about five percent of his or her starting body weight.
Following the onset of the pandemic, the program switched to a virtual format as a majority of the participants were 65 years and older. Most participants were able to make the transition, Hart says.
Going virtual has been a “mixed blessing,” she adds, because it allows the program to expand outside its four walls and beyond central Ohio. The program has served nearly 400 participants since its launch.
In its first year, the program started out with fewer than 20 participants as the Urban Health Management team connected with doctors, dietitians and the faith-based community to bring the program to the area.
Valerie Hart, the diabetes prevention program coordinator, introduced the program during a Pickerington Area Resource Coalition meeting. Roger Shahan offered the Prince of Peace Presbyterian Church in Pickerington as a place to hold classes.
Shahan says he first planned to attend the meetings to open the church for the coaches and the program participants but found out he was eligible to enroll. Shahan says a physical revealed he was overweight, putting him at risk of diabetes.
“I really enjoyed the course,” Shahan says. “It was very informative, but it wasn’t boring. The instructor knew how to make it interesting.”
Shahan says he tries to stay active as best as he can without straining his knees, and he drastically changed his diet by consuming fewer carbohydrates and eating more fresh fruits and veggies.
Shahan says his coach took the group out to a restaurant to teach them how to read a menu with a healthy lens, such as learning which menu items they can order and which they should avoid.
Payne says Shahan is among the champions of the program and was committed to its goals.
“He really committed to the lifestyle changes,” she says.
Program qualifiers include a fasting blood glucose level of 100-125, an A1C test result showing blood glucose levels between 5.7 and 6.4 and a body mass index of 25 or above. Those at risk of prediabetes include individuals who are 45 years of age or older, overweight, have a family history of diabetes, are not physically active or had diabetes while pregnant.
For more information or to enroll in the program, call Mount Carmel Health at 614-234-5433 or visit www.mountcarmelhealth.com/health-and-wellness/classesgroups-events/.
Brandon Klein is an editor. Feedback welcome at bklein@cityscenemediagroup.com.
