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Revamped yourhealthylife.org site launches

May 02, 2008 @ 09:47 AM

By The Herald-Dispatch

Herald-Dispatch.com

Ashland, Ky. – King’s Daughters Medical Center’s Surgical Weight Loss program has launched a revamped version of its web site, yourhealthylife.org. The centerpiece of the new site is an eight-minute video that guides visitors through the program, explaining the basics and helping people determine if Surgical Weight Loss is right for them. The new site also features new patient before-and-after photos, a message board for patients and potential patients, and more.
    
Program director Deana Milum says, “The Surgical Weight Loss program draws patients from greater distances than many hospital services. It’s not uncommon for patients to travel from central and northern Ohio, Indiana, Virginia, and other states in the midwest and southeast to visit our program.” Since KDMC began its Surgical Weight Loss program in early 2003, more than 1,000 patients have completed the program, which includes a thorough pre-surgery battery of tests, and comprehensive follow-up and support.
    
General surgeon and Surgical Weight Loss medical director Roderick Tompkins, M.D., says bariatric surgery has benefits far beyond weight loss. “The issues that many patients have related to obesity often are reduced or eliminated altogether. Type 2 diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), sleep apnea, and high cholesterol have all shown to reduce dramatically if a patient undergoes the surgery and follows a comprehensive diet and exercise plan afterward.”
    
According to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in October 2004, of 22,000 bariatric surgery patients, they showed improvements in the following obesity-related conditions:
 
     • Type 2 diabetes eliminated in 76.8% of patients; 86% eliminated or improved
     • Hypertension eliminated in 61.7% of patients and resolved or improved 78.5%
     • Obstructive sleep apnea or sleep-disordered breathing eliminated in 85.7% of patients
     • High cholesterol levels or hyperlipidemia decreased in more than 70% of patients
     • Average weight loss was 61.2 % for all patients
 
The Surgical Weight Loss program at KDMC earned accreditation from the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery in 2006.
    
KDMC is a locally controlled, not-for-profit, 385-bed regional referral center, offering comprehensive cardiac, medical, surgical, maternity, pediatric, rehabilitative, psychiatric, cancer, neurological, pain care, wound care and home care services. For additional information, please call 1.888.377.KDMC or visit us online at kdmc.com.







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