Brief Program Overview Trinity Bariatric and Weight Loss Center, a department of Trinity Hospital of Augusta, is a multidisciplinary program designed to assist patients in achieving their goals of  medically supervised weight loss or weight loss surgery. Our surgeon specializes in laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery and gastric band surgeries such as Lap-Band™. The Center houses a multidisciplinary group dedicated to helping patients meet the requirements of the surgical weight loss program. At the center, patients will meet the Bariatric Team, which includes the Surgeon, Bariatric Coordinator, Patient Advocate, Dietitian and Psychologist – all in one convenient location to better serve you.

The center is located in Suites 2 and 3 at 1500 Johns Road in the Medical Village, adjacent to Trinity Hospital of Augusta.  For more information, please contact us at (706) 481-7298.

Morbid Obesity Overview

• Morbid obesity is a disease that results in an extremely high level of body fat — equivalent to being at least 100 pounds overweight or having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 or more.
• Body Mass Index, the most common method of assessing obesity, can be calculated by dividing weight in kilograms by height in meters, squared:
  

Weight in kilograms
Height in meters2

A person with a BMI greater than or equal to 25 is considered overweight; obese with a BMI greater than or equal to 30; morbidly obese with a BMI of 35 or more with an obesity-related illness, and all those with a BMI greater than 40.

Morbid Obesity Heightens Risk of Death and Diseases

• People who are morbidly obese are at greater risk for several life-threatening diseases, including type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, hypertension, sleep apnea and most types of cancer.
• Morbid obesity has been associated with more than 30 illnesses and medical conditions, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, joint degeneration, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), lower-back pain and urinary incontinence.
• Morbidly obese individuals have a 50 to 100 percent greater risk of dying young, compared with people who are not obese.

Options for Treating Morbid Obesity

• The NIH recommends bariatric surgery as a treatment option for patients suffering from morbid obesity who are unable to lose weight by traditional means

• Bariatric surgery reduces the amount of food the stomach can hold to a few ounces, changing its size from that of a football to the size of a golf ball. Reducing the size of the stomach makes a patient feel full after only a few bites.
  
• In 2005, an estimated 175,000 people in the United States underwent bariatric surgery, according to the American Society for Bariatric Surgery.

The health and medical information presented on this web site is for educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for medical care. If you have a medical question about any of this information, please consult your physician or a health care professional. Every reasonable effort has been made to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information presented on this web site. Trinity Hospital of Augusta and Trinity Bariatric and Weight Loss Center make no guarantee or promise, express or implied, as to the accuracy or reliability of the information presented. This information is subject to change without notice and cannot be guaranteed to be current.