Public Health And Wellness Offering Free Class Series To Prevent Diabetes

Photo: Louisville Department of Public Health and Wellness

The Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness will sponsor a free 16-week class series, PreventT2, to help people prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes.

Classes begin on Friday, January 19 at 11:30 a.m. and will be held for one hour each Friday at the South Louisville Community Center at 2911 Taylor Boulevard from January 19 until May 4. For more information or to enroll, call (502) 574-6663 or email andrea.doughty@louisvilleky.gov.

PreventT2 is designed to help people with prediabetes make relatively small lifestyle changes that can prevent or delay the onset of full-blown Type 2 diabetes and its devastating health consequences such as heart disease, kidney failure, stroke and blindness.  It is estimated that one out three people in the United States has prediabetes and ninety percent of them don’t know they have it.

Those most at risk for prediabetes include those who:

• are age 45 or older
• are overweight
• have a family history of Type 2 diabetes
• get little physical activity
• have had gestational diabetes
• have given birth to a baby who weighed more than 9 pounds.

If you fall into even one of these categories, you should seriously consider taking this course.

PreventT2 participants will work with trained lifestyle coaches on activities proven to help lose weight, eat more nutritiously and become more physically active. PreventT2 groups meet for a year, weekly for the first 6 months and then once or twice a month for the next six months to maintain healthy lifestyle changes.

PreventT2 is part of the CDC’s (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) National Diabetes Prevention Program.  Public Health and Wellness has partnered with the Kentuckiana Regional Planning & Development Agency (KIPDA) to offer the course in Louisville.