CDHD offers free diabetes prevention class

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - A local health department is gearing up for diabetes prevention program.

Central District Health Department is offering free classes beginning Monday, January 16, and for the first time the entire course will be instructed online.

Officials say the goal of the program is for participants to lose between five and seven percent of their body weight through physical activity and healthy eating.

“One of every three Americans have what’s called pre-diabetes,” said CDHD Communication Specialist, Mike Bockoven. “They’ve got issues that can basically put them on the path to diabetes, and those are the people we’re hoping take the class. What it’ll do is, either stop you from developing diabetes or push you back further down that path.”

Bockoven says he hopes the knowledge shared in class will prevent people from becoming high risk of developing diabetes. The classes are also viewed as a preventive measure that can help make life easier as we age.

“Trying to prevent it is a big part of public health, and a big part of what we try to do,” said Bockoven. “It’s just going to make people, not have to deal with so much as they age, as they keep moving down their path.”

The class term is one year, but after a few months classes go from being instructed every week to at the participant’s own pace. There will also be a Spanish version of the class a few weeks after January 16.

“We have teachers who are going to be leading both classes in both languages, and I know that they’re pretty excited about it,” said Bockoven. “One of the big reasons is because when it’s not so fixed of time, it gives people more time to kind of finish it on their schedule.”

With the classes being entirely online, Bockoven says he hopes it’ll allow participants to complete all the course materials, and still have the same sense of togetherness and accountability as in-person classes.

“The first thing to do is figure out what sort of risk you’re at,” said Bockoven. “Then talk to you about how to help those risk, how to make sure those risk don’t further develop into something that can become diabetes. So if you’ve got a high blood pressure, it’s about knowing what you can do to help with that.”

Bockoven is hoping small class sizes will also contribute into a participant getting more individual attention, in efforts to help prevent diabetes from happening.

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