By Patrick Baron

PONTIAC – People who are in the early stages of diabetes are invited to attend a free program offered by OSF St. James – John W. Albrecht Medical Center that aims to beat the disease before it advances.

Sherri Schlatter with the hospital told WJEZ’s Todd Wineburner that the program helps people with pre-diabetes develop a healthy lifestyle over a period of time.

“How to eat healthy without giving up all the foods that we love and how to add physical activity to our life even if you don’t think you have time,” Schlatter said. “They also have good stress management measures, cope with challenges that can derail all our hard work on doing this.”

While the program is free, Schlatter said people must register prior to attending any of the sessions. She says the group will meet frequently at first before meeting on a semi-annual basis.

“The programs starts out with 16 weekly sessions. We are doing them on Monday evenings from 4:30-5:30,” said Schlatter. “From there it goes to every other week for two months and then it goes to monthly sessions until it’s one full year.”

Anyone interested in registering for the Diabetes Prevention Program is asked to call (815) 842-4970.

Patrick Baron can be reached at [email protected].