St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital Hospital

St. Luke’s Comprehensive Bariatric Medicine Program

The St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System, in partnership with Baylor College of Medicine, introduces its Comprehensive Bariatric Medicine Program. The program has been designed to offer a multidisciplinary team approach to the medical and surgical treatment of the severely overweight including:

• Preoperative and postoperative assessments and education
• Nutritional and psychological consultations and support
• Bariatric surgical procedures
• Exercise programs and medical weight loss management
• Support groups and emotional eating class led by a licensed psychotherapist

All of these components are designed to achieve long-term positive patient outcomes and permanent weight loss success. Any surgeon requesting privileges to perform bariatric surgery at St. Luke’s must be formally credentialed, including criteria based on American Society of Bariatric Surgery (ASBS) Center of Excellence requirements. We work closely with the surgeon’s staff to provide patients with compassionate, coordinated care before surgery through to post-surgery follow-up visits such as-

• Coordination of the administrative processes
• Scheduling of all pre-surgery appointments
• Fitness and exercise consultations and support
• Nutrition consults, plan development and close follow-up

Our objective is to help patients achieve their weight loss goals. In the words of a patient who has gone through the program at St. Luke’s, “When you’ve been sick as long as I was, feeling fabulous is like a second chance at life. I’m very satisfied with my appearance, but more than anything I feel better. I feel like I’ve been born again.”