Rosa Castelhano felt the impact of her type 2 diabetes every day, especially in the form of GI issues every time she ate — a side effect of her diabetes medication. After learning about a coworker’s success with Virta Health’s digital type 2 diabetes program, a free employee benefit offered by nonprofit healthcare system Banner Health, she decided it was worth a shot.
“I felt run down and fatigued; I have kids, and it’s hard when you’re a busy mom working full time,” Castelhano says. “But my biggest thing was the GI issue. I went to a GI doctor and they looked at my med list and said, ‘Well, you’re diabetic and you’re on these diabetes medications, so basically you’re going to have this as long as you’re on them.’ I felt defeated.”
