MUSKEGON, Mich. (WOOD) — Since 2020, the Muskegon YMCA has served as the hub for the YMCA’s diabetes prevention program.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevents, 96 million adults, or more than one in three adults, have prediabetes.

“…Through the program, we’re able to help people counter that risk by implementing lifestyle change through healthy eating habits and movement activity,” Courtney Jackson, lifestyle coach, said.

Before the pandemic, the Muskegon YMCA held in-person diabetes prevention programming. During the pandemic, it could “quickly pivot and allow online classes for diabetes prevention programming,” Jackson said.

“With the pandemic, we were like, ‘we can go ahead and get in more people than we were able to prior and help prevent the risk even more so by doing it all online,'” she said.

Jackson explained that people who are involved in the group-based program are generally surprised that they see their A1C levels where they want to be in such a short amount of time with the small changes.

For anyone interested in seeing if they could be part of the 96 million adults who are prediabetic, there is a risk assessment on the Muskegon YMCA website.