Dietitian Maria Elena Rodriguez, RD, CDE, center, helped Mount Sinai employees Angela Mazzone, left, and Valerie Ruffin achieve a healthier lifestyle.
Valerie Ruffin, an Executive Assistant in the Department of Information Technology, thought that drinking homemade fruit juices was a good way to improve her health and lose weight—until she had a physical exam in 2015. “I was in shock when I was told I had diabetes,” she recalls. “My blood work showed extremely high sugar levels, the result of all the fruit juice I was drinking daily.”
Colleague Angela Mazzone, Project Manager III, Department of Information Technology, was similarly surprised when her physical exam uncovered glucose levels consistent with pre-diabetes. She always thought of herself as a healthy eater, and athletic, but the diagnosis forced her to re-examine that perception. She was now a working mom and, in reality, she was devoting less time to exercising and preparing nutritious meals.
Both quickly vowed to make lifestyle changes to improve their overall well-being. They turned to the Mount Sinai Health System’s Employee Health and Wellness Program, Mount Sinai Fit, an initiative that is part of the Employee Benefits program within the Department of Human Resources. Mount Sinai Fit coordinated access to wellness visits provided through Mount Sinai Doctors Primary Care Associates, lifestyle coaches who focus on diabetes prevention, a walking group, and registered dietitians who are certified diabetes educators (CDEs). As a participant, each received healthy, satisfying, and easy-to-follow meal plans, and access to an exercise program.
Valerie Ruffin learned how to eat healthier meals at Mount Sinai’s “Lunch and Learn” program.
By making healthy meals at home, increasing their time spent walking, meeting with Mount Sinai wellness clinicians, and working with their respective Mount Sinai primary care physicians over the past year, Ms. Ruffin and Ms. Mazzone have lost weight and seen a significant decrease in blood sugar levels, cholesterol, and triglycerides.
Ms. Ruffin lost 20 pounds, and her A1C results—a blood test that measures average blood sugar levels over a three-month time frame—is now 7 percent. It had been more than 10 percent. A normal A1C is equal to or below 5.7 percent.
Ms. Mazzone participated in the Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health Diabetes Prevention Program and has nutritional wellness visits with Maria Elena Rodriguez, RD, CDE. Ms. Mazzone says, “Not only am I looking and feeling better, my husband has started to lose weight, and my kids are enjoying healthier meals at home.”
Mount Sinai Fit includes a “Lunch and Learn” group discussion series that features cooking demonstrations and health and wellness discussions. By the end of the year, a cooking demonstration featuring hospital leadership will be held at each Mount Sinai Health System campus.
The program also offers employees weekly yoga and meditation classes, running and walking groups, nutrition classes, and access to face-to-face and mobile wellness programs through OffTheScale. Personal nutrition, diabetes self-management education, and the Livongo for Diabetes Program are available by participating in the Diabetes Alliance. As participants in the Diabetes Alliance, employees receive free consultations with Ms. Rodriguez or Jennifer Kartashevsky, RD, CDE.
“We are inspired by the initial results Mount Sinai employees have achieved by working with us,” says Ms. Rodriguez.
Adds Jane Maksoud, RN, MPA, Chief Human Resources Officer, Mount Sinai Health System: “We are offering our hard-working faculty and staff the tools to make healthy lifestyle changes to improve their overall well-being. Our goal is to continue to roll out new initiatives that will transform our employees, in mind, body, and spirit.”
To learn more about how to join these programs, email Wellness@mountsinai.org.