Services

360 Degrees of Care at Southern Regional's Bariatric Center

360 Degrees of Care means that we are with you every step of the way on your weight loss journey-before, during and after surgery. We offer a comprehensive and personalized program to help you meet your weight loss goals and live a healthy lifestyle.

The first step in determining if LAP-BAND^® surgery is right for you is to attend one of our informational seminars, which are held twice a month and offered during the week and on the weekend. At the seminar, you will learn about details of the procedure and benefits of LAP-BAND surgery over other types of bariatric surgery.

The next step is determining whether your insurance will cover the LAP-BAND procedure. Our team has expertise in this area and we help each patient navigate this process, which is often confusing for patients to do on their own.

Preparing for Surgery

We have a very personalized approach for each patient, and we need some important information to provide you with the best possible care. Before bariatric surgery, we require that patients have a physical evaluation and a nutritional evaluation so that we can assess their overall health and wellbeing. We also do an eight-page health history for each patient.

In addition, we require patients to attend at least one of our support group meetings before having surgery. Attending a support group meeting helps reduce anxiety about surgery, and it also gives patients hope because they see for themselves the results of patients who have already had surgery.

Our team works diligently to help you navigate all of the necessary insurance forms and paperwork. We send detailed instructions to your primary care physician in order to assist them with preparing the letter of medical necessity for your insurance company. The insurance approval process often takes three to four months, but we can help speed it along in just two months.

After Surgery

The first few months after surgery are very important to your health and to your long-term weight loss success. During the first three months, we require our patients to come into our office for weekly weigh-ins. At each visit, we also discuss the food diaries that patients are required to keep, we check their vital signs to make sure they are staying healthy and we provide support for other emotional or physical needs.

Each patient meets with an on-staff nutritionist about four to six weeks after surgery, and again about eight to 10 weeks after surgery. We also have behavior specialist who helps patients with behavior modification and various exercises to help develop healthy eating habits.