Elyria Woman Reclaims Her Health With the Help of UH CINEMA

In her forties, Jennifer Warrick of Elyria watched her health decline.

“My diabetes was out of control. I was trying, but didn’t know how to get it under control,” she said.

She faced numerous health challenges, including type 2 diabetes, as well as high blood pressure, hyperlipidemia, obesity, neuropathy and fatty liver disease. Despite previous efforts, her weight fluctuated between 280 to 320 pounds. She struggled to achieve control of her diabetes and overall health. She had a high risk for cardiovascular disease and adverse outcomes like heart attack and stroke.

In April 2023, Jennifer became a patient of University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute’s Center for Integrated and Novel Approaches in Vascular-Metabolic Disease (UH CINEMA). This unique cardiometabolic program with doctors, nurses, certified diabetes educators, dietitians and pharmacists encompasses heart, kidney, diabetes and obesity care. The patient’s care team manages overlapping issues all in one place through one program.

“Patients with diabetes often must make separate appointments with a variety of specialists, like cardiologists, endocrinologists, nephrologists, ophthalmologists, wound care specialists and more,” said Ian Neeland, MD, preventive cardiologist, Co-Director of UH CINEMA, and McCamon Family Chair in Cardiovascular Excellence at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute. “With our program, we aim to coordinate care for multiple specialties, so patients have fewer appointments. We also offer other crucial support like group sessions and educational classes.”

For Jennifer, UH CINEMA’s personalized approach, innovative treatments and supportive environment were instrumental in helping her overcome her struggles and achieve health milestones. She described her participation in UH CINEMA as a "life-changer."

Some highlights from her transformation since participating in UH CINEMA:

• Weight loss: Jennifer has lost 85 pounds from her highest weight.
• Diabetes control: Her Hemoglobin A1C is down to 5.2 from a high of 10.1. Under 7 is considered healthy and a goal for someone with diabetes.
• Heart health: Her cardiovascular risk factors have improved, including LDL cholesterol reduced to 93 (below 100 is generally recommended) and triglycerides down to 174 (down from extremely high to mildly high).

The UH CINEMA team worked with Jennifer and recommended a high-intensity statin regimen. She also began taking the GLP-1/GIP medication Mounjaro, and she now wears a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

“The CGM honestly saved my life,” she said. “Now I know how to eat for sugar levels, and once I monitored that, the weight started dropping, my cholesterol and blood pressure were down. Then they began taking me off some of my previous medications.”

“Jennifer is a great example of what’s possible for patients who come to UH CINEMA and collaborate with our care team,” said Claire Sullivan, MD, a preventive cardiologist and lipid specialist at UH Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute, and Jennifer’s cardiologist at UH CINEMA. “We want to coach patients on healthy habits and prescribe the right medications to set them up for success. We also remove unnecessary medications as patients progress, which is what happened in Jennifer’s case.”

“The UH CINEMA staff is always available for support, and I always take advantage of the Monday webinars and other classes and resources they provide,” said Jennifer. “If you have diabetes and cardiac issues, I highly recommend this program. It helped save my life, and my husband has now adopted some of my habits and is dropping weight too!”