Diabetes is one of the most serious health issues facing adults ages 65 or older in the Metro Atlanta area. Get a Jump on Diabetes: A Game Plan for Older Adults to Prevent Diabetes is a campaign of the MDSP, the Atlanta Regional Commission Area Agency on Aging, and the YMCA to offer the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program at no cost to the first 200 eligible older adults. This program can help older adults prevent and reduce their risk for type 2 diabetes.

Among the Medicare population, individuals age 65 or older, living in Atlanta, it is estimated that more than 30,000 have undiagnosed diabetes and more than 80,000 have prediabetes.

Get a Jump on Diabetes: A Game Plan for Older Adults to Prevent Diabetes is partnering with the Medicare Diabetes Screening Project, the Atlanta Regional Commission Area Agency on Aging and the YMCA to offer the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program at no cost to qualifying individuals to help older adults prevent and reduce their risk for type 2 diabetes.

Participate for Free

The first 200 adults 65 or older with a diagnosis of prediabetes and who are overweight are eligible to participate in the program through Atlanta-area YMCAs at no cost. Through Get a Jump on Diabetes, the Medicare Diabetes Screening Project (MDSP) in collaboration with the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Area Agency on Aging (AAA) and the YMCA is offering the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program, a classroom-based 16-session lifestyle intervention program that has been proven to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.

Get a Jump on Diabetes

Diabetes prevention is proven and possible. Losing weight and increasing physical activity is not easy, but the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program has been proven effective and is now available in the Atlanta area.

Research has shown that older adults can reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as 71 percent by participating in lifestyle modification programs that help participants lose weight and increase physical activity, according to the National Institute of Health Diabetes Prevention Program.

Adults 65 or older should ask their doctor to be screened for diabetes to determine if they have prediabetes and determine their eligibility to participate in the YMCA’s Diabetes Prevention Program.

Find Out More

For more information or to enroll in the program, contact Linda Vaughn with YMCA of Metro Atlanta at (404) 527-7690. You may also email Linda at preventdiabetes@ymcaatlanta.org.

If you would like to order informational materials related to the campaign, please contact Carmen Vega at Allison and Partners in Atlanta: 404-832-7182 or carmen@allisonpr.com.

Georgia Partners List

For more information on the Gwinnett County diabetes risk assessment events, please click here.