Sacred Heart Hospital was recently named a Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence® by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS.) The ASMBS Center of Excellence designation recognizes surgical programs with a demonstrated track record of favorable outcomes in bariatric surgery.

The ASMBS Centers of Excellence program was created to recognize bariatric surgery centers that perform well and to help surgeons and hospitals continue to improve the quality and safety of care provided.

To earn a Center of Excellence designation, Sacred Heart underwent a series of site inspections during which all aspects of the program’s surgical processes were closely examined and data on health outcomes was collected. Sacred Heart and other centers receiving the Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence designation agree to continue to share information on clinical pathways, protocols and outcomes data.

“Sacred Heart’s primary mission is patient safety,” says Dr. Jeffery Lord, medical director and bariatric surgeon at Sacred Heart Hospital. “I want our patients to know that the care we provide to the community exceeds the national standard of care in medicine.  I want our center to be known for providing top quality care with the compassion everyone expects for their family and surgical skill everyone deserves from their surgeon”.

Obesity has become a significant national health issue, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that 66 percent of all U.S. adults are overweight or obese. Obesity is closely correlated with a number of serious conditions that severely undermine the health of overweight patients, including heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Bariatric surgery, when performed correctly, can help obese patients manage these conditions. By definition, surgeons with ASMBS Center of Excellence designations practice only top-quality care, ensuring efficacy of the procedure with each patient to the best of their abilities.

The Sacred Heart Institute for Surgical Weight Loss, under the direction of medical director Dr. Jeffery Lord, provide comprehensive evaluation of clinically obese patients to determine their candidacy for these life-changing procedures as well as extensive patient/family education to create a foundation for a healthy lifestyle.

Sacred Heart offers two types of weight loss surgery that use small incisions – first laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery and adjustable gastric banding or Lap band.

For more information, please Call Sacred Heart at (850) 416-1600 or visit www.sacred-heart.org.

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