YMCA Receives Nearly $1 Million to Expand Diabetes Prevention Program
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Twitter summary: @YMCA received nearly $1M from @JHARTFOUND to expand its #Diabetes Prevention Program over the next 2 years.
The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) recently awarded the YMCA a $860,500 grant to further expand its Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) geared towards the elderly population over the next two years. DPP is a CDC-approved program designed to curb the development of prediabetes and help participants prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes. There is a huge unmet need on this front, as at least one in three American adults has prediabetes, and over 50% of those with prediabetes are over age 65. With this grant, the YMCA will spread DPP to 1,124 local Y sites, hopefully impacting at least 31,500 adults over the age of 55. Additionally, the YMCA will work towards changing Medicare’s reimbursement policy to provide coverage for diabetes prevention programs. Although a list of the new DPP locations has yet to be released, here is a list of the current YMCA locations with Diabetes Prevention Programs.
So what does the YMCA’S DPP look like? The YMCA’s program is a yearlong, group-based intervention that utilizes trained lifestyle coaches to educate and motivate participants with prediabetes to improve their health through increased physical activity, healthy eating, and other behavior changes. The program aims to achieve 7% weight loss and increase physical activity to 150 minutes a week among participants.
What are the benefits? An NIH-sponsored study found that DPP participants reduced their risk of developing diabetes by 58%, and more recent data presented at ADA 2015 demonstrates that the YMCA’s program saved participants over $300 in healthcare costs over three years.
The YMCA is currently the largest deliverer of DPP interventions nationally, and this grant will afford even greater expansion of the program and help raise awareness for prediabetes. Indeed, it is estimated that as many as 90% of people with prediabetes don’t even know they have it. Without an intervention, up to a third of people with prediabetes will develop type 2 diabetes over the next five years. Read more about prediabetes here. NK
