Gazebo Gazette

Mississippi is assembling a statewide Lifestyle Coach workforce to help Medicare Part B beneficiaries feel good, look better, and live longer.

Thanks to the Diabetes Coalition of Mississippi, a workforce is being trained and deployed to provide the Medicare Diabetes Prevention Program by coaching Medicare Part B recipients to make healthy lifestyle changes at no cost for a full year of participation.

“For those that qualify for this Medicare Part B benefit, a Lifestyle Coach will provide in-person or live streaming coaching sessions to help participants eat healthier, exercise regularly, have less stress, adopt healthy habits, and reduce their chances of experiencing the onset of type 2 diabetes,” said Phil Trotter, Diabetes Coalition prevention workstream chair. “We have just started to recruit for Lifestyle Coach positions in all zip codes, and these are paid positions which can be performed on a part-time basis.”

Pre-diabetes is a condition where individuals have higher-than-normal blood sugar which increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the future.

It is estimated that 814,000 Mississippians have pre-diabetes, and many do not know it.

8 out of 10 Medicare recipients are living with two or more chronic conditions, and 4 in 10 are living with four or more chronic conditions. The writing is on the wall, something must be done to make healthy lifestyle programs available. It is critical that burdensome health care costs for older adults in Mississippi with fixed incomes be addressed.

“Mississippi Lifestyle Care is focused on healthy lifestyle change to reduce the massive chronic disease burden on the state’s health care systems,” said Trotter.  “Never has a statewide effort launched a border-to-border Lifestyle Coach workforce to confront type 2 diabetes, obesity, and social determinants of health barriers. This is a real opportunity for those wanting to make a difference in the lives of others while getting paid to do it.”

For more information on becoming a Lifestyle Coach, please visit www.realizingdpp.com/mississippi.