Suffolk County and Mather Hospital want you to learn how to live healthy and prevent diabetes.
Northwell’s Mather Hospital is hosting a FREE year-long diabetes prevention program designed to help you modify your lifestyle to prevent the disease.
Suffolk County has an overall adult Diabetes rate of 9.5%. New York State has a rate of 11.4% or 1.8 million people. The highest counties in NY are Orleans (16.8%), Chautauqua (15.8%), and Niagara (15.5%).
The Suffolk County Health Department will have a trained lifestyle coach to run the National Diabetes Prevention Program at Mather Hospital on Mondays from 6-7:15 pm beginning Monday, Sept. 8, 2025. The program meets weekly until Dec. 29. The course then meets twice a month in January and February 2026 and monthly March through September 2026.
Participants are identified through their health care provider by either their fasting glucose 100-124 or their A1c 5.7-6.4. In addition, they must have a BMI of 25 or more and be over the age of 18. Participants cannot have diabetes or be pregnant. Participants may also qualify by taking either the ADA Risk Test or CDC Risk Test.
“We want to have them change behaviors to get these numbers back into the normal range,’ said Senior Public Health Educator Debora Rippel. “We do that by having them lose 5-7 percent of their body weight and increase their physical activity to 150 minutes per week. In addition, they develop new behaviors (weighing and measuring food, reading food labels, choosing low-fat, low-calorie options/substitutions, among other behaviors). We look at the environmental, psychological, and social aspects of their behaviors and help them identify ways to change them.
According to the Centers for Disease Control one in three adults have pre-diabetes. Of those, more than eight in 10 are unaware that they have it. Without taking any action, 15-30% of people with pre-diabetes could develop Type 2 diabetes within five years. For every 2.2 pounds of weight an individual loses, their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes is lowered by 13%, according to the national program.
To register for the Diabetes Prevention Program, contact Debora at the Suffolk County Department of Health at 631-853-2928 or Debora.Rippel@suffolkcountyny.gov.