Urban Health Plan, Inc.

The Bronx consistently has ranked as the unhealthiest county in all of New York State by the County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation project.

In the south and northeast Bronx specifically, there is a 13.9% prevalence of diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has stated that individuals with diabetes are at a greater risk of heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, and amputations. The Urban Health Plan (UHP), a federally qualified community health center, has been serving disadvantaged sections of the Bronx since 1974. In 2015, NYHealth awarded a grant to UHP to develop and implement the National Diabetes Prevention Program (NDPP), an evidence-based lifestyle program that reduces participants’ risk of developing diabetes, within its facilities.

Under this grant, UHP worked toward becoming a CDC-recognized certified master trainer of the NDPP. Specifically, UHP designated a coordinator to ensure health educators and nutrition assistants are trained to lead the NDPP. Potential participants were referred to the program by their providers and through UHP patient registries. UHP offered additional programs to complement the NDPP classes, including a demo kitchen program run by a nutritionist to teach patients how to prepare and purchase healthy foods. Ultimately, UHP created a sustainable system for health educators to deliver the NDPP across UHP sites.