MDNews - Greater Kansas

COVER FEATURE Team Approach, Education Component Key to By Amy Geiszler-Jones IT'S REALLY BECOME THE battle of the bulge in America. More than one-third of Americans are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Kansas — with an obese population of 29.4% — just narrowly misses being one of the 12 states in the country where 30% of the population is obese. Carrying around extra weight is enough to make some people sick — and it usually does. The risks of obesity include hypertension, osteoarthritis, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and some cancers, according to the CDC. More and more people are seeking relief from obesity — and helping improve other health conditions — through bariatric surgery. At Via Christi Weight Management, a program of Via Christi Health, patients get the benefit of surgical weight loss, along with the opportunity to start learning to live a healthy lifestyle before surgery and the tools to maintain weight loss long after surgery. The intensive preoperative and postoperative educational programs are what give this program an edge over others in the region. They're the reason why this program has been so successful and why so many continue to enjoy a more healthy lifestyle years after surgery. A Perfect Pairing Via Christi Health, the largest health care provider in Kansas, has long had an interest in helping people control their weight. In 1993, James Early, M.D., founded the Prevention and Health Center — now known as Via Christi Weight Management — out of his belief that weight mattered when it came to one's health, including his own. With his position that a person's body mass index, or BMI, was just as important to know as one's blood pressure or cholesterol level, Dr. Early helped develop what became a premier weight- loss program through the use of behavioral modification and medical supervision. In about 2002, general surgeon Brent Lancaster, M.D., 6 | Greater Kansas MD NEWS ■ MDNEWS.COM Via Christi's Surgical Weight-Loss Program ight-Loss Program Via Christi bariatric surgery patient Tammy Metzger Stone lost 144 pounds over 18 months. PHOTOS PROVIDED BY VIA CHRISTI HEALTH

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