Community member, Helen Rebman, participates in the diabetes prevention program at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital.
At a routine appointment in 2019, Helen Rebman had a feeling her cardiologist would have bad news for her. Still, she had no idea how bad it would be.
“He told me that if I didn’t get my cholesterol down, lose weight and start eating better, I was likely to have a heart attack or stroke within four years,” says the 67-year-old resident of Lexington Park, Maryland, who had struggled with obesity and high blood pressure for years. “I knew I had to do something to improve my quality of life.”
Throughout the next few months, Helen took charge of her health and significantly lowered her cholesterol and blood pressure. She went from taking three medications a day to just one. And she lost weight—52 pounds, to be exact.
Helen attributes her success in reaching her health goals to Simple Changes, a yearlong diabetes prevention program (DPP) offered at MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital.
“It saved my life,” she says.
Thanks to a grant recently awarded to MedStar Health and other area hospitals, more lives may be saved.
Find care now
If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911 or seek care at an emergency room.
Maryland’s Health Services Cost Review Commission (HSCRC) granted $30 million last year to Totally Linking Care in Maryland (TLC MD), a collaboration between MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital Center, MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital and three other area hospitals. The funding supports two initiatives— regional diabetes care and Behavioral Health access in Prince George’s County.
The grant will enable MedStar Health to offer more diabetes prevention and self-management education programs throughout Prince George’s and St. Mary’s counties, and help keep the programs free of cost to participants. “The goal is to refer at least 4,000 residents to one of the programs over the next year,” says Lori Werrell, assistant vice president of Care Transformation, MedStar Health.
“Thanks to this grant, anyone who wants to participate in these programs can do so without barriers to cost,” she says. “We know that cost can be just one of the many factors that impact a person’s ability to prioritize their health.”
The five-year grant also expands access to behavioral health care throughout Prince George’s County, including more mobile crisis teams to respond to mental health emergency calls that come into 911. The eventual goal is to open a crisis stabilization center, a safe place for those suffering from a mental health emergency to receive the proper help they need — help they cannot receive in most hospital emergency departments.
“In many of these cases, a hospital isn’t the place they need to be,” says Werrell. “They need specialists trained in Behavioral Health to de-escalate the situation and determine the best method of care.”
Werrell adds that the pandemic brought about an even greater need for Behavioral Health resources in the community. MedStar Health saw a significant increase in drug overdoses and emergency petitions for immediate mental health evaluations.
“A lot of patients who had [previously] been able to manage their Behavioral Health concerns before the pandemic found themselves struggling a lot more and unable to do so during the pandemic,” she says. “These additional funds will put our region in a better position to help residents get proper professional help and live well.”