Health Is the Key

Healthcare leaders have called type 2 diabetes “a national health crisis,” but our guest this month has good news to share. Jessica Vatel, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, is excited by the latest approaches to treating diabetes, including education, coaching and personal empowerment. Working with people living with the condition to develop healthy habits and problem-solving skills, Jessica discusses how putting the power in patients’ hands—along with medical advances—is helping more people manage their diabetes.

The Takeaway:

• Get started on your health journey by making an appointment with your primary care physician. Don’t have one? Find one at our Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider.
• Visit the Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Get to know your numbers: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyhearts.
• Join WeightWatchers® at a discounted rate of just $8 a month or $0 if you are living with diabetes or prediabetes: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/ww.
• If you are living with diabetes and get your primary care from a physician at the Brooklyn Hospital Center, learn more about their Diabetes Care Program by calling (718) 250-6433.
• If you are living with type 2 diabetes, find out more about our partner Virta’s diabetes reversal program: www.virtahealth.com/join/1199.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members' Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to join webinars on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.
• Visit our YouTube channel to view a wide collection of healthy living videos: www.YouTube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists.
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.
• View Jessica in action, counseling Home Health Aide Lavern King: https://youtu.be/19slcdFvH7w.

Guest Bio:

Jessica Vatel is a registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist with the Brooklyn Hospital Center, where she has been employed as an 1199SEIU member since 2015. Jessica specializes in all aspects of support for people living with diabetes, including nutrition and lifestyle counseling, diabetes technology (continuous glucose monitoring and insulin pump therapy), medications, weight management, monitoring/preventive screenings, and developing healthy coping skills/problem solving skills to better manage and live with diabetes. Jessica feels passionate about empowering patients to manage their health and increase their knowledge surrounding disease management to ultimately improve their quality of life.

In this month’s episode, Dr. Hugo Ortega joins us as we take a look at lifestyle medicine – a fresh approach to healthcare that more and more physicians are embracing. Dr. Ortega, an associate program director for the Montefiore Einstein Internal Medicine Residency Program in the Bronx, shares his personal story of how he became interested in lifestyle medicine and how it informs the way he treats his patients and teaches his residents. He outlines the six basic pillars of lifestyle medicine and explains how paying attention to each can help get to the root causes of poor health and help us live our best lives.

The Takeaway

• Get started on your health journey by making an appointment with your primary care physician. Don’t have one? Find one at our Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider.
  
• Learn more about lifestyle medicine by visiting the American College of Lifestyle Medicine website: www.LifestyleMedicine.org.
• Get the basics on whole-food, plant-based nutrition at www.PlantPoweredMetroNY.org.
• Visit the Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Get to know your numbers at www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyhearts
• Join WeightWatchers at a discounted rate of just $8 a month; $0 if you are living with diabetes or prediabetes: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/ww.
• If you are living with type 2 diabetes, find out more about our partner Virta’s diabetes reversal program: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/news/virta.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to join webinars on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.
• Visit our YouTube channel to view a wide collection of healthy living videos: www.youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.

Guest Bio

Dr. Hugo Ortega is an associate program director for the Montefiore Einstein Internal Medicine Residency Program in the Bronx and served on the American College of Lifestyle Medicine Board of Directors as Young Director. The college also awarded him the Health Equity Achieved Through Lifestyle Medicine (HEAL) Initiative Scholarship, which aims to support a diverse healthcare workforce. With a passion for medical education and a master’s degree in health professions education, Dr. Ortega completed his residency in primary care and social internal medicine and has developed an expertise in lifestyle medicine. Believing education to be the cornerstone of changing the current landscape of healthcare, Dr. Ortega says teaching students and residents to be aware of the complex social systems that determine health allow for better adaptation to the system while also fighting to change it. Experienced in development, implementation and evaluation of undergraduate/graduate medical education curriculum, Dr. Ortega has also developed administrative and leadership skills during the creation and directing of the lifestyle medicine programs at Northwell Health. Dr. Ortega believes strongly in giving back to the community via education and mentorship, empowering people to take charge of their health and influence others.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Lela Mayers, the Benefit Funds’ Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO). Dr. Mayers recently joined us to work alongside Chief Medical Officer Dr. Van Dunn in supporting our members’ health journeys. In our conversation, we get to know more about our new DCMO, who began her career as a family medicine physician. Among other things, we learn what she loved about family medicine, why she made the transition to her current role at the Benefit Funds, why it’s so important for healthcare workers to make their own health a priority, what she’s learned from walking in our members’ shoes and what she looked for when she found the perfect doctor for her parents – and what we can all look for, too.

The Takeaway

• Start your health journey by making an appointment with your primary care physician.
• Visit our Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; 1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Talk to your doctor about any screenings you may need: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthybodies.
• Know your numbers to find out where you stand: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyhearts.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to view webinars on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.
• Visit our YouTube Channel to view a wide collection of healthy living videos: youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.
• We want to hear from you! Drop us a line at our social media channels: Facebook // Instagram // YouTube

Guest Bio
Dr. Lela Mayers is the Deputy Chief Medical Officer (DCMO) of the 1199SEIU Benefit Funds, which provide comprehensive self-insured, self-administered healthcare benefits to more than 450,000 healthcare workers, retirees and their families. As DCMO, Dr. Mayers assists the Chief Medical Officer with the Benefit Funds’ clinical, care management and analytics functions, as well as health and wellness initiatives and value-based strategies.

Prior to joining the Benefit Funds, Dr. Mayers served as Senior Medical Director at CVS Health/Aetna. There she collaborated with the account management teams, pharmacy teams, consulting firms and plan sponsors to drive improved health outcomes for commercial and labor health plan members. Prior to that, she served as Chief of Medicine at Premier Healthcare, where she managed five ambulatory health centers across New York City. Her previous experience with union membership was earned at the Benefit Fund of the New York Hotel Trades, where she was medial director of the Harlem Health Center. Dr. Mayers worked for many years as a primary care physician at the Farrell Health Center of NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, where she served as faculty and medical director of the resident training program. Dr. Mayers continues to hold a position as voluntary faculty/instructor in clinical medicine at Columbia University’s Center for Family and Community Medicine. She is a licensed physician in New York State and is board certified with the American Board of Family Medicine.

Dr. Mayers received a Bachelor of Arts from Cornell University, a Doctor of Medicine from Cornell University Medical College (now Weill Cornell Medical College) and a Master of Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

In today’s episode, the Benefit Funds’ Executive Director and CEO of Funds Administrative Operations, Dr. Donna Rey, explains the inspiration behind our Healthy Living initiative to support 1199SEIU members. Dr. Rey also outlines the many programs and services designed to meet members wherever they are on their personal health journeys. She even shares the “WHY” behind her own health journey – and asks members to connect with her about theirs.

The Takeaway

• Visit the Health Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; 1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving
• Join WeightWatchers at a discounted rate of just $8 a month; $0 if you are living with diabetes or prediabetes: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/ww
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to view videos on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos
• Get inspired by fellow members through our new Members' Voices series: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• If you are living with type 2 diabetes, find out more about our partner Virta’s diabetes reversal program: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/news/virta
• Want to share your story? Just visit 1199SEIUBenefits.org/tell-us-why.
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: 1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellness-events
• Access free or reduced-cost community resources for assistance with issues like food insecurity, housing, child care and others through our partners at findhelp: findhelp.1199SEIUBenefits.org
• For added support, call our Wellness Member Assistance Program at (646) 473-6900.
• Dr. Rey wants to hear from you! Email her at [email protected].

Guest Bio

Donna Rey, EdD, is the Executive Director of the 1199SEIU Benefit and Pension Funds and CEO of Funds Administrative Operations. As Executive Director, Dr. Rey brings extensive leadership experience, including more than 30 years of implementing organizational change and more than 15 years as an executive at the Funds. In 2022, she launched the Healthy Living initiative to support 1199SEIU members in achieving better health outcomes through innovative partnerships and lifestyle programs that empower members.

Prior to her role as Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Rey was Associate Executive Director of the Funds, responsible for the operations of the Benefit and Pension Funds, as well as joint administrative services for the Training and Employment and Child Care Funds.

Before joining the Funds in 2006, Dr. Rey served in the non-profit sector, implementing change in such organizations as Columbia University, the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Department of Finance.

Dr. Rey received a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, a Master of Science from the W. Averell Harriman School for Management and Public Policy and a Doctorate in Education from Columbia University.

In this month’s episode, we talk heart health with Dr. Gbenga Ogedegbe, renowned cardiologist and founding director of the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity at NYU Langone Health. Dr. Ogedegbe provides an overview of how exactly the heart works and shares the good news and the not-so-good news about heart disease. He reviews the target numbers we should all aim for and offers simple steps we can take to keep our hearts in good working order. And because stress is a major risk factor for heart disease, Dr. Ogedegbe shares some of his own stress-busting strategies he practices daily.

The Takeaway

• Find out where you stand heart-wise by making an appointment with your primary care physician. Don’t have one? Find one at our Provider Directory: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/find-a-provider.
• Visit the Healthy Living Resource Center for wellness tips, information and resources; www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving.
• Get to know your numbers at www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyhearts.
• Join WeightWatchers at a discounted rate of just $8 a month; $0 if you are living with diabetes or prediabetes: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/ww.
• If you are living with type 2 diabetes, find out more about our partner Virta’s diabetes reversal program: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/news/virta.
• Get inspired by fellow members through our new Members’ Voices series: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/healthyliving/membervoices.
• Stop by our Benefits Channel to join webinars on managing stress, building healthy meals and more: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/videos.
• Visit our YouTube channel to view a wide collection of healthy living videos: www.youtube.com/@1199SEIUBenefitFunds/playlists.
• Sample our wellness classes to exercise body and mind: www.1199SEIUBenefits.org/wellnessevents.

Guest Bio

Gbenga Ogedegbe, MD, MPH is the inaugural and founding director of the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity (IEHE) at NYU Langone Health. He is the Dr. Adolph & Margaret Berger Professor of Medicine and Population Health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. He is a leading NIH-funded scientist in health equity research. He has led numerous NIH-funded studies for cardiovascular disease risk reduction with a focus on developing and evaluating clinic-community linkage models of care to address inequities in health outcomes.

Dr. Ogedegbe is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the United States Prevention Services Task Force (USPSTF). He is a Fellow of many scientific organizations including the American Heart Association, American College of Physicians and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine.

After obtaining his MD degree in Ukraine, Dr. Ogedegbe completed his residency in internal medicine at Montefiore Medical Center, followed by a fellowship training in Health Services Research and Clinical Epidemiology at Cornell University, during which received his MPH from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Prior to his current position, he was a faculty member at both Cornell Weill Medical College and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.