EAST GREENWICH – The Miriam Hospital recently opened its Center for Weight & Wellness in East Greenwich, a comprehensive weight management program offering services ranging from dietary counseling to medical weight management and surgical intervention. It is the only facility in Rhode Island to provide fully integrated comprehensive weight management services at one location.
Located at 1377 South County Trail, the Center for Weight & Wellness is the latest investment by The Miriam Hospital toward addressing Rhode Island’s worsening obesity crisis. It combines The Miriam Hospital Weight Management Program and the Center for Bariatric Surgery, bringing the strengths and resources of these two programs together to offer patients a variety of personalized care support, and services. Its multidisciplinary treatment team includes physicians, surgeons, exercise physiologists, psychologists, physical therapists, nurses and nutritionists. The team of specialists provides consultation and support to help each patient make the best decisions based on their weight, as well as psychological and medical conditions.
“Treating obesity can be challenging,” said Dr. Siva Vithiananthan, chief of minimally invasive and bariatric surgery at the Center for Bariatric Surgery, a program of Rhode Island and The Miriam hospitals, and co-director of The Center for Weight & Wellness. “A lot of programs are not successful because they don’t offer patients cohesive treatment. Our center is one-stop comprehensive care.”
Obesity is a lifelong, progressive, life-threatening condition that can significantly reduce life expectancy, with such related health problems as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, sleep apnea, arthritis, depression, stress, incontinence, menstrual irregularity and some types of cancer, including colon, breast and gall bladder cancer.
The Center for Weight & Wellness dietary counseling, on-site psychological evaluations/screenings; comprehensive evaluations of medical, dietary and behavioral risks for weight gain; maintenance programs for long-term support and success; special treatment groups for emotional eating and diabetes management; medical weight management consultation that includes medical, behavioral, nutritional and exercise. A full continuum of services matched to patient needs and surgical consultation for a full complement of bariatric surgeries, including sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, gastric band and revisional surgeries.
The Center for Weight & Wellness is open Monday and Thursday from 3 to 7:30 p.m.; Tuesday and Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to noon; and Wednesday from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Contact The Center for Weight & Wellness at 401-606-4177 or www.weightlossri.org.
