Rhode Island Department of Health
NEHI Resources
White Paper/Policy Brief “Triple Threat” Diabetes, CV, & Obesity
GPBGH Resources
Novo Nordisk Resources
Novonordiskworks.com: is a non-branded website that provides resources and information about the importance of chronic weight management and impacts of obesity, on market access stakeholders, and to encourage organizations to take action in providing a comprehensive approach to weight management.
TruthAboutWeight.com: is a website designed for employees/members/patients to learn more about the latest science behind weight loss and management and get answers to questions about how weight affects your health.
Resource library (novonordiskworks.com): Resource Library with educational resources and tools designed to help positive outcomes with weight loss and weight maintenance within your organization.
Other Resources
ObesityAction.org – this website has information on educational tools, obesity treatment and advocacy
Resources focused on addressing weight bias on the Obesity Action Coalition website
Welcome to the Crush COVID Employer Toolkit. It contains all the information and materials you need to implement the Challenge. If you have any questions or would like any supplementary materials or information, please don’t hesitate to contact Joanne Bilotta at jbilotta.ribgh@gmail.com. Direct links to the various sections are below.
Downloadable Word document to introduce employees to the challenge here.
The most important single step we can all take to crush COVID is to get vaccinated and persuade as many of our employees and their family members to do the same.
CEOs and other top executives sharing the fact they have been vaccinated with their employees and preferably doing so by sharing photos of the vaccination itself is a powerful way of overcoming employees’ vaccine hesitancy. Encouraging employees to share with their co-workers that they have been vaccinated is helpful as well. Additionally, sharing information about how safe vaccines are from authoritative health sources can help reassure employees and combat disinformation.
As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states:
“COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective. Millions of people in the United States have received COVID-19 vaccines, and these vaccines have undergone the most intensive safety monitoring in U.S. history. This monitoring includes using both established and new safety monitoring systems to make sure that COVID-19 vaccines are safe.
Results from these monitoring efforts are reassuring. While some people don’t have any side effects after getting a COVID-19 vaccine, many people will have mild side effects after COVID-19 vaccination, like pain or swelling at the injection site, a headache, chills, or fever. These reactions are normal and show the vaccine is working. A small number of people have had a severe allergic reaction (called “anaphylaxis”) after vaccination, but this is extremely rare and when it does happen, vaccination providers have medicines available that they can use to effectively and immediately treat the reaction. You will be asked to stay for 15–30 minutes after you get your vaccine so you can be observed and provided treatment in the rare case it is needed.
To provide more information for your employees, share the following CDC link:
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/vaccines/safety.html
Preventing and managing chronic disease not only makes employees, less vulnerable to COVID, it improves over-all health and cuts employee health care costs. The Department of Health provides information and resources the enables people to better prevent and manage the following diseases: arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes( see diabetes webpage), heart disease, and stroke. More information here from the Rhode Island Department of Health Center for Chronic Care and Disease Management.
Persuading employees who are employees with chronic conditions to enroll in the RI Department of Health approved and sponsored management program that fits their situation best will protect health, guard against the worst impacts of COVID, and cut health care costs.
These evidenced based programs run by Community Health Network will substantially improve health outcomes for participating employees and are free or low cost:
Helps lower your risk of getting Type 2 Diabetes by eating healthier, increasing physical activity, and losing weight. The DPP focuses on lasting changes that are manageable for each patient. Participants must have a pre-diabetes diagnosis, be screened in based on the CDC screening tool, or have a history of gestational diabetes. It must also be medically safe for them to lose weight.
Teaches you to manage symptoms of diabetes such as fatigue, pain, hyper/hypoglycemia, stress, depression, anger, fear, and frustration. Participants must have a diagnosis of diabetes or have a family member, friend, or patient with diabetes who they are learning on behalf of.
CDOEs and CVDOEs are registered nurses, dietitians, and pharmacists who can teach you how to manage your glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, medication, and nutrition. Participant must have a diabetes diagnosis and physician referral to participate.
Teaches you how to manage symptoms and medications, communicate with family and doctors, relieve stress, eat well, exercise, and set achievable goals.
Provides you with the tools to manage medications, fatigue, frustration, proper nutrition, and communication skills, and teaches you to evaluate treatments and make an action plan.
Teaches you to safely make physical activity part of your everyday life to reduce pain or be more active.
To enroll, contact:
Diabetes Prevention Program - Kelsea Tucker at Kelsea.Tucker@health.ri.gov
Chronic Disease Prevention Programs - Jasmine Franco at Jasmine.Franco@health.ri.gov
Community Health Networks: by email: Community Health Network at the RI Parent Information Network (communityhealthnetwork@ripin.org) or by phone 401-432-7217
Informational PDF’s for distribution to employees:
Getting a flu shot is the single best step anyone to take to prevent getting the flu and it is safe. As CDC states, “An annual flu vaccine is the best way to reduce your chances of getting the seasonal flu and spreading it to others. CDC recommends that everyone 6 months of age and older receive an annual flu vaccine. For more than 50 years, hundreds of millions of Americans have safely received seasonal flu vaccines.”
Choosing Wisely not only provides information about how to prevent flu; it has a wealth of other information that will help employees make better health decisions.Launched in 2012 by the American Board of Internal Medicine's ABIM Foundation, the Choosing Wisely campaign is a leading international effort aimed at reducing unnecessary tests, treatments, and procedures in healthcare in order to produce better health outcomes and at lower cost. The core of the campaign is educating patients in how to spark productive conversations by asking their doctors 5 basic questions:
