The Skinny Gene Project has launched an intensive 12-month diabetes prevention program in two South Texas clinics, owned and operated by Methodist Healthcare Ministries.

Methodist Healthcare Ministries (MHM) is a non-profit organization dedicated to serving low income and uninsured families that would not qualify for federal or state programs that would provide such care. MHM invests well over $30 million annually to provide quality healthcare to the communities surrounding their 3 primary clinics. The Skinny Gene Diabetes Prevention Program will be implemented in two of these facilities, Wesley Health and Wellness and Dixon Clinic.

The Wesley Health and Wellness Center provides care for one of the most under-served populations in San Antonio. The area has nearly 100,000 individuals (90% Hispanic), of which more than half are 185% below the federal poverty guidelines. The Dixon Clinic provides medical and counseling services to a community on San Antonio’s east side, which has a large African-American population.

In 2009, Kevin Moriarty, President and CEO, expressed to the Skinny Gene Project his great concern for the growing obesity and diabetes epidemic that was affecting their communities. MHM has excellent programs in place to help their patients control their diabetes, but they realized a more aggressive approach would be needed  to fend off this disease. To better serve their communities, Kevin decided to take it take it one step further and implement a program that focuses on diabetes prevention.

As of April 2010, we are proud to announce that the Skinny Gene Diabetes Prevention Program is successfully being implemented at MHM. Over the next 12-months, our bilingual nutritionist (Nancy Juarez), under the supervision of our Senior Registered Dietitian (Emily Barr,MS,RD,CNSC), will be working one-on-one with a total of 15 patients to help them adopt healthy lifestyle changes and prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes.