The John A. Hartford Foundation and The Y to Serve More Than 31,000 Adults Through the YMCA's Diabetes Prevention Program
The Y has received a two-year, $860,500 grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) to deliver the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program to older adults. The program applies research that has been shown to reduce the number of new type 2 diabetes cases among Medicare-age individuals by nearly 70 percent, also offering the possibility for lowering health care expenditures.
The Y has received a two-year, $860,500 grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation (JAHF) to deliver the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program to older adults. The program applies research that has been shown to reduce the number of new type 2 diabetes cases among Medicare-age individuals by nearly 70 percent, also offering the possibility for lowering health care expenditures.
With funding from The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Y will spread the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program to 57 local Y associations and enhance the capacity of 173 local Y associations, to reach a total of least 1,124 of each Ys program sites and at least 31,500 adults over the age of 55. Over the two-year grant period, the Y will also work to provide diabetes prevention services to more older adults by advancing policy changes such as Medicare reimbursement for diabetes prevention programs.
Type 2 diabetes is among the most prevalent and fastest growing chronic diseases, particularly among older adults, affecting 10 million older adults and costing Medicare $45 billion annually. Prediabetes affects approximately 50 percent of the population age 65 and older. In the absence of effective intervention, many of those with prediabetes will go on to develop diabetes.
The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program is a yearlong, group-based program. In a relaxed classroom setting, a trained Lifestyle Coach helps participants learn to incorporate healthy eating, increased physical activity, and other behavior changes into their everyday lives. The program aims to achieve seven percent weight loss and increase physical activity to 150 minutes per week. The YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program uses a CDC-approved curriculum and is part of the CDC-led National Diabetes Prevention Program.
"Diabetes takes a devastating toll, on our economy and on individual lives, particularly among the large and rapidly growing number of older adults who have other chronic illnesses as well,” said Terry Fulmer, PhD, RN, FAAN, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation. “The good news is how well the Diabetes Prevention Program has been proven to work in the older population. The John A. Hartford Foundation is proud to support the Y in spreading the program to older adults, in YMCA's, senior centers, churches, and other community settings across the nation, through increased training and, in the longer term, through proposed changes to Medicare payment policy."
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