Diabetes Prevention Employer Success Stories

Jackson County Health Department

Jackson County recruited 10 county employees to begin their first DPP. They partnered with the local public library for free, dedicated space to hold classes. The classes were held during lunch hour, and the county wellness program allotted 15 minutes of travel time to and from the library (30 minutes total) for employees that participated in the intervention. Eight participants completed the program (one dropped out and one left county employment) which is an 80% retention rate. Ordinarily you would need to purchase a license to screen a movie in public; however, the documentary Hungry for Change does not require that you purchase a screening license. Jackson County used a nontraditional recruitment strategy and held two screenings of the documentary—one at the public library and one at The Mad Batter Food and Film, a restaurant in town that screens movies for diners. After the screenings a Q&A session was conducted along with promotion of the Diabetes Prevention Program. Forty people attend each screening, 20 individuals showed interest in participating in DPP, and 10 enrolled. Since the screening events were so successful, Jackson County Health Department plans to use this strategy again in the future.

Onslow County Health Department

Onslow County Health Department has one of the state's most persistent DPP programs. They are Building Health: 365 with the National Diabetes Prevention Program. During the week of January 11, 2016, they held two information sessions which were open to all Onslow County employees. There were over 50 people in attendance, with about 15 others who expressed interest, but were unable to attend. Given the size of the group and the variety of divisions represented, there is the potential to have three separate groups, at various locations throughout county government! Onslow County will definitely be busy supporting improvement in the health and wellness of our community—beginning with the very people who serve it. Onslow County’s DPP was able to partner with a local Lowe’s Food store and provide their DPP participants a practical application field trip with a grocery store tour. At the end of the tour Lowe’s supplied the participants with a $10 gift card to purchase healthy produce options for cooking. Kelly Menke, DPP lifestyle coach and personal trainer, wrote and demonstrated a workout with resistance bands that participants can do by themselves at home or in the office. Because of the successes they experienced in the first two rounds of DPP, Onslow County DPP has continued to work with their employee wellness, and participants for the third class have been granted time to commute to and from their DPP class, which will not be charged as work time.