Cook County Health Launches Community Diabetes Prevention Program

Cook County Health has launched a community-based diabetes prevention program aimed at Chicago neighborhoods with disproportionately high rates of type 2 diabetes, pairing free screenings with a year-long lifestyle coaching program for people identified as prediabetic.

The program embeds health coaches directly in community centers and churches in several Chicago neighborhoods rather than requiring participants to travel to a hospital or clinic, an approach hospital officials said addresses transportation barriers that have historically limited participation in similar prevention programs.

"We know exactly which neighborhoods in this city have the highest diabetes rates, and it's not a coincidence that those are also neighborhoods with less access to grocery stores with fresh food and fewer safe places to exercise," said the medical director overseeing the program. "You can't just tell people to eat better and move more without addressing why that's harder in some neighborhoods than others."

The year-long program includes free blood sugar monitoring supplies, group coaching sessions on nutrition and physical activity, and connections to local food resources, modeled on the CDC's National Diabetes Prevention Program framework. Hospital officials said early enrollment has exceeded initial projections, with several hundred residents enrolled in the first cohort.

Cook County Health said the program is funded through a combination of hospital community benefit spending and a state public health grant, and that it plans to track long-term outcomes including how many participants avoid progressing to a full type 2 diabetes diagnosis over the coming years.