Megan Arment is a typically-busy 24-year-old. There is work, family, friends, turning her life around.

What?

Megan says she knew something wasn’t right with her health.  She was constantly thirsty and persistently tired, a take-a-nap-every-day-after-work kind of tired.

“I felt like I was wasting my days,” Megan said.

A call from Peggy Austin, RN, MSN, Care Coordinator with the Blessing Be Well at Work program, confirmed Megan’s fears and opened her eyes.

Megan’s employer, Good Samaritan Home of Quincy, is a client of the Blessing Be Well at Work program, giving her access to a variety of health and wellness services. In addition to access to a care coordinator if needed, a key Blessing Be Well at Work service is a biometric screening. It measures health-related indicators including height, weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar.

“We want to find those people who are at moderate risk for health complications to keep them from becoming high risk, if we can,” explained Peggy. “If they are at high risk, we work with the individual to reduce their risk.”

Peggy says when she reviewed Megan’s biometric screening, the numbers “jumped out at her,” including a blood sugar reading three times normal. She called Megan about the results and her concern for Megan’s health.

“In a way it was tough to hear her say that, and a little sad to know that I had fallen that far,” Megan recalled of her first phone call with Peggy. “But, at the same time, it was a good push into a better, healthy living style for me.”

Peggy and Megan worked together to establish Megan with a primary care provider, Sonia Behrens NP, who performed further tests leading to a diabetes diagnosis. Peggy collaborated with Sonia and her nurse, Kali Whitaker, LPN, and referred Megan to the experts on the Blessing Diabetes Center team and to Hannah Cramsey a Be Well at Work Wellness coach.

Six months later Megan had lost weight, brought her cholesterol under control and saw her A1C, a specialized blood sugar measurement, drop by nearly 60 percent.

“She’s been very motivated and doing very well,” Peggy said. “For an individual so young to be so involved and do a total life change within six months, it’s a huge win,” Peggy continued.

“It’s definitely been a rough ride along the way,” describe Megan. “There are days when I ask myself why I am doing this.”

Then, Megan asks herself another question, who else is being affected by her health?

“I think about my family, and my hope to start a family myself someday. That really helps me get back on the right track,” she stated.

Every employee of a Blessing Be Well at Work employer has access to a biometric screening.  However, not everyone completes a screening. 

“I would recommend people complete the biometric screening just for a sense of understanding yourself a bit better,” Megan said. “It’s peace of mind to know where you are at in life. If you understand and know what’s going on with your health, you can say to yourself, ‘I am having a hard time with this. I really need to kick myself in the butt and do it.’”

That kick lead Megan to a new life.