Intervention for Prevention
Mount Carmel program targets prediabetic population By Brandon Klein
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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.
Photos courtesy of Mount Carmel Health System
ince 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
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