Are you at risk for developing type 2 diabetes? Northwell’s Mather Hospital will host a FREE year-long diabetes prevention program designed to help you modify your lifestyle to prevent the disease.
The National Diabetes Prevention Program, led by a trained lifestyle coach from the Suffolk County Department of Health, will be held 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 CDC or ADA risk test at https://www.cdc.gov/prediabetes/takethetest/ or https://diabetes.org/diabetes/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 prediabetes. Of those, more than eight in 10 are unaware that they have it. Without taking any action, 15-30 percent of people with prediabetes 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 percent, according to the national program.
More information on the program at cdc.gov/diabetes-prevention/programs To register, contact Debora at the Suffolk County Department of Health at 631-853-2928 or Debora.Rippel@suffolkcountyny.gov .
About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality health care services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather has twice earned the highest five-star rating from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and has the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the
American Nurses Credentialing Center for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report 2024-2025 Best Hospitals rankings in gastroenterology & GI surgery; geriatrics; neurology & neurosurgery; orthopedics; pulmonology & lung surgery; COPD; heart failure; hip fracture; kidney failure; leukemia, lymphoma & myeloma; and pneumonia. Mather also was named one of America’s 250 best hospitals for 2023, 2024 and 2025 by Healthgrades and in 2025 received Healthgrades’ Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the fifth consecutive year. The Leapfrog Group awarded Mather its 22nd top A grade for patient safety in the spring 2025 ratings. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, Psychiatry and Pharmacy residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook.
About Northwell Health
Northwell is the largest not-for-profit health system in the Northeast, serving residents of New York and Connecticut with 28 hospitals, more than 1,000 outpatient facilities, 22,000 nurses and over 20,000 physicians. Northwell cares for more than three million people annually in the New York metro area, including Long Island, the Hudson Valley, western Connecticut and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Northwell is New York State’s largest private employer with over 104,000 employees – including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners and Nuvance Health Medical Practices – who are working to change health care for the better. Northwell, named a TIME100 Most Influential Companies 2025, is making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. Northwell is training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.