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06/15/2022
Wentworth-Douglass Hospital’s ‘Prevent Type 2 Program’, which targets those most at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, has received full accreditation from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Prevent Type 2 Program is a 12-month lifestyle change program that Wentworth-Douglass launched in 2018 as part of the CDC’s National Diabetes Prevention Program. Wentworth-Douglass offers the program as a free community health benefit that targets individuals with prediabetes.
“It’s really all about increasing awareness in our community that prediabetes is real,” said Christine Wyrsch, manager of the Wentworth-Douglass Patient & Family Learning Center, which runs the program. “We want to catch those patients before they get diabetes.”
Participants in the program are sometimes referred by their physicians or accepted after taking a short quiz from the National Diabetes Prevention Program that determines an individual’s risk for type 2 diabetes.
The program is taught by hospital lifestyle coaches certified by the CDC, diabetes educators and dieticians. Through multiple courses, the instructors work with participants to develop better lifestyle habits and achieve body weight and activity goals.
According to the CDC, 1 in 3 Americans have prediabetes, but those who participate in CDC lifestyle programs and lose 5-7% of their body weight and add 150 minutes of exercise per week, can cut their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by up to 58% (71% for people over 60 years old).
Wentworth-Douglass worked its way of through multiple levels of accreditation with the CDC before being granted full accreditation.
Full accreditation by the CDC will allow the hospital’s program more opportunities for growth in the future, according to Wyrsch.
“It really shows people coming into the program that we’ve done all the work,” Wyrsch said. “We’re crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s, our coaches are fully trained and we’re doing everything well that the CDC wants us to.”
Wyrsch gave credit to the coaches, educators and dieticians who worked tirelessly over three years to help the hospital reach the CDC standards for full accreditation.
“It has been such a great collaboration and I think that’s what sets us apart from other programs in the area, is that we’re a hospital-based program that is run by content experts,” Wyrsch said.
Those interested in learning more about the Prevent Type 2 Program can visit https://staging.wdhospital.org/wdh/staying-well or contact the Wentworth-Douglass Patient & Family Learning Center at 603-609-6027 or PFLC@wdhospital.org