Home | Our Doctors | About Us | Clinical Services | Quality & Safety | Patients & Visitors | Ways to Give | Careers
 

Bariatric Care Center

 St. Joseph Hospital recognized as a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence*
Click here for more information.

St. Joseph Hospital supports your long-term physical, nutritional, emotional and spiritual well-being, before, during and after bariatric surgery. Our philosophy is to treat you holistically - body, mind and spirit. In addition to providing clinical expertise, we are committed to the comfort of our bariatric patients, providing a dedicated bariatric unit that includes private rooms, specialty beds, roomy chairs and proper fitting hospital gowns. In keeping with our longstanding tradition, we incorporate our core values of Dignity, Service, Excellence and Justice in all we do.

Our team utilizes a multidisciplinary approach to successful long-term weight loss using the expertise of the surgeons, program coordinator, psychiatrists, registered dietitian, physical therapists, exercise physiologist, meditation/spirituality specialist, acute-care surgical and post-op staff, and surgical office personnel.

Typically, diet, exercise and behavior modification result in only a 10% long-term weight loss and are not a long-term cure for morbid obesity. Bariatric surgery is the only proven long-term method of weight loss for individuals 100 or more pounds overweight. Surgical weight loss is a tool rather than a cure. Long-term weight loss requires lifestyle change in addition to surgery. The most successful individuals incorporate healthy eating habits and exercise into their new, healthy lifestyle.

The surgeons at the St. Joseph Hospital Bariatric Care Center have been trained by some of the foremost physicians in the field. Over 90 percent of our gastric bypass surgeries are performed laparoscopically. The American Society of Bariatric Surgeons and the National Institutes of Health consider laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery and adjustable gastric banding procedures to be the "gold standard" in weight-loss surgery. This adjustable gastric band restricts the amount of food the stomach can hold by placing an inflatable silicone band around the upper portion of the stomach.

If you are considering a weight-loss surgery, you will want to educate yourself on these life-changing procedures. The staff at the St. Joseph Hospital Bariatric Care Center are here to answer all of your questions and to determine whether this type of surgery is right for you.

* Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence® is a registered trademark of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS). Used by permission of ASMBS. All rights reserved.