Bridgeport woman says Hartford HealthCare diabetes program, funded by Walmart, saved her life

CT Post – Saturday, November 30, 2024
By Brianna Gurciullo

BRIDGEPORT — When Sherylyn Garner underwent preoperative testing about a year ago, she learned that her A1C level was frighteningly high.

Garner said she needed a hip replacement at the time because of severe arthritis, but with her blood sugar so high, the surgery would have to wait. Though she had been diagnosed with prediabetes years before, the test results came as a surprise.

“I did not know at all that I was suffering from that,” said Garner, 62. “It was almost as if I was putting my job first. I didn’t have time to think of me. I barely had time to look in the mirror before I left for work.”

In May of this year, Garner was laid off from her job — which, looking back, was a “godsend,” she said. Soon after, she was introduced to a program that she said she believes saved her life.

With the support of a more than $500,000 grant from Walmart, Hartford HealthCare launched the Diabetes Support Program in February, focusing on low-income Bridgeport residents who have Type 2 diabetes and especially high A1C levels.

An A1C test gauges a person’s average blood sugar level in recent months. According to the Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention, a normal A1C level is considered to be below 5.7% but generally, someone with diabetes aims to have an A1C level below 7 %.

For nine months, participants receive in-home visits from registered dietitians and community health workers, a monthly allowance to buy groceries at Walmart, and deliveries of fruits and vegetables from the nonprofit nOURish Bridgeport, among other resources. Walmart has locations in Stratford, Milford and Shelton.

“We know that the Bridgeport area has really limited access to healthy food options, access to education,” said Laura Stebbins, who works for Hartford HealthCare as manager of continuous improvement for population health.

“By the end of the program, (participants) should be able to be completely comfortable with making the right food choices,” Stebbins said. “If they do, let’s say, have a cheat meal, they know what to do to counterbalance that without having the huge sugar crash or a huge sugar jump.”

One goal, she said, is to “really fine-tune and focus and see what (we can) learn here that we can then later replicate” in other areas of need.

Garner said, before she joined the program, she was working for a commercial real estate development company — a stressful, high-pressure job that required her to visit construction sites along the East Coast.

“I wasn’t quite taking care of myself like I should have been,” Garner said, noting that she wasn’t sleeping well or exercising as much as she used to and would grab whatever she could to eat so she would at least have some food in her system.

Now, she said, she has done “a 180-degree turnaround” in terms of her eating. Her hemoglobin A1C percentage dropped from 12.8 to 6.7.

She also had hip surgery earlier this month.

Stebbins, of Hartford HealthCare, said she wants everyone who participates in the diabetes program “to be a Sherylyn.”

“I want everybody to learn how to take care of themselves, feel inspired and just move forward with life and have this be not a life sentence,” Stebbins said. “You can (manage diabetes) to the point where you can maybe no longer … need medications.”

Patients have learned about the program through their doctors — with Hartford HealthCare offering three primary care practices in the city — and even through word of mouth, Stebbins said.

The program’s initial cohort included 20 patients, she said. A second cohort, which will begin in December, includes more than 30 patients.

Stebbins said the “lessons learned” from the first cohort will benefit both groups. For instance, when dietitians went to patients’ homes to give them cooking classes during the first round, they learned that some didn’t have kitchens or supplies.

So now the program is offering “community cooking classes” to both cohorts at an office in Stratford where they can earn cooking utensils and other items.

“They’re excited about the community kitchen and getting together with not only our registered dietitians and our (community health workers) but getting (together) with other patients that are falling into their same kind of situations and scenarios,” Stebbins said.

“If we can make them all feel there’s a community and there’s support that’s available to them, it’s only going to help enhance their sustainability with managing their diabetes long term,” she added.

Stebbins, who noted that she personally has family members living with diabetes, said her hope is that participants teach their family members and others what they have learned through the program.

Brian Mattiello, Hartford HealthCare’s senior system director for social impact, said it is a “simple but innovative” program.

“It’s not just a 15-minute visit at our clinics or an outpatient location,” Mattiello said. “We’re going to stay with you, understand you as a patient … and we’re going to give you at-the-elbow support, find out what kind of foods you do like, what kind of preparation, and then addressing those social needs as well, so that we know that we’re doing the whole-person approach to care.”

Garner said she is now looking for a new job — possibly one related to health care.

“I would like to make an impact on others,” Garner said. “Those who may be going through something like this, it would be great if I (could) work with them and be able to provide the resources they don’t even know about that’s out there, so that they know that they’re not alone.”

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