New program can help patients who are struggling to lose weight and improve overall health

Nashoba Valley Medical Center’s (NVMC) Center for Weight Control now offers new medical bariatric services to help patients lose weight without using surgical interventions. The services are specially designed for patients who have tried changing diet and increasing physical activity, and aren’t having success with losing weight and improving any ongoing health conditions.

“The addition of the medical bariatric program expands Nashoba’s overall weight loss services,” said Salvatore Perla, president of Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “Depending on an individual’s needs, they now have more options and support services for weight loss solutions with our OPTIFAST® Program and medical bariatrics.”

The focus of NVMC’s medical bariatric program is on treating obesity, which truly affects every part of the body, and by treating the obesity the other comorbidities a patient may be experiencing are then also treated.

“Many of my overweight patients may also be dealing with endocrine problems, orthopedic problems, diabetes, arthritis, or sleep apnea,” said Theresa Piotrowski, MD, a bariatric physician at the Center for Weight Control at Nashoba Valley Medical Center. “Weight loss can significantly improve many of these conditions.”

NVMC’s medical bariatric services provide patients with a three-prong multidisciplinary approach, which includes: a nutrition analysis with a bariatric physician who analyzes what a person eats and reviews how many calories they should be taking in, along with teaching them about what types of foods they should and shouldn’t be eating and how to control portion sizes; behavioral therapy, which treats the behavioral reason why a patient is eating by reviewing their behaviors in order to help them recognize their behaviors and then develop a plan to help change these behaviors; and an exercise program where patients work with an ACE-certified personal trainer to develop individually tailored exercise plans.

“The behavioral therapy component gives my patients control over the food instead of the food having control over them,” said Dr. Piotrowski. “This gives them a sense of empowerment. We also discuss healthy habits they can adopt instead of turning to food.”
To learn more about the weight loss services offered at NVMC’s Center for Weight Control, visit www.nashobamed.org/weightcontrol.

About Nashoba Valley Medical Center
Nashoba Valley Medical Center (NVMC) offers community-based primary care and specialty services. NVMC was a recipient of the Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval and was named to The Leapfrog Group’s annual list of Top Hospitals in 2014. Areas of clinical strength include emergency medicine, diagnostic imaging, cardiology, gastroenterology, ophthalmology, oncology, orthopedics, physical therapy and general surgery. NVMC also offers a comprehensive Center for Pain Management, Diabetes and Endocrine Center, Travel Clinic and Occupational Health Services. Nashoba Valley Medical Center is part of the Steward Health Care System LLC, the largest integrated community care organization in New England which combines over 3,000 physicians, 10 acute care hospital campuses, managed care, insurance programs, home care, an imaging operation, and a number of other post-acute services, to provide the most cost effective and highest quality of integrated patient care. Additional information is available at www.nashobamed.org.

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