It’s been a year since the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) was launched by the Labor Management Project’s Workplace and Community Health Program (WCHP), in partnership with 1199SEIU and Mount Sinai Beth Israel. During that time, two cohorts have completed the program, learning new skills for healthy living, and four more have begun the program.
During the first six months of the year-long program, lifestyle coaches deliver 16 modules that focus on increasing and tracking physical activity, eating well and tracking food intake, caloric balance, managing stress, coping with triggers and getting support for a healthy lifestyle. In the second six months, coaches provide at least six additional modules that address challenges such as stalls in weight loss and getting off track with eating or fitness goals. Participants in the first two cohorts who attended four or more sessions have lost over 120 pounds in total, for an average weight loss of five pounds each.
The four cohorts that are still participating in the program have participated in a new addition to the core curriculum: a series of cooking demonstrations launched by the WCHP team and led by Teleon Café. Participants are served a healthful, relatively low-calorie but delicious variation on a burger and fries that consists of an Asian-inspired chicken burger, baked sweet potato fries and a cucumber dill salad. To the excitement of the team and participants, the menu and in-person tutorial have been an overwhelming success.
In addition, on September 26 the team attended “What Creates Health,” a meeting convened by The New York City Health Department’s Center for Health Equity and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. Various healthcare and community-based organizations joined the conversation about diabetes prevention and how to create health equity in NYC neighborhoods, mainly in the South Bronx, South East Queens, East and Central Harlem, and North and Central Brooklyn. The charge for the day dovetailed with the LMP’s broader mission and the WCHP’s focus on bringing DPP lessons out of the classroom to the broader community: Participants were encouraged to collectively leverage our networks to reduce the rate of type 2 diabetes. Methods discussed include investing in key neighborhoods through funding for DPP training opportunities, partnering with community advocates and city agencies for planning initiatives, promoting awareness of type 2 diabetes through data and storytelling, and improving the quality and outcomes of diabetes prevention by offering the DPP program as a covered benefit. WCHP continues to seek collaborative ways to achieve community wellbeing and reinforce healthy living.
For more information about the DPP or the LMP’s Workplace and Community Health Program, please email WCHP Senior Manager Dr. Chris Pernell.