Weight Management Seminar October 7, 2004 CVMC Offers Surgical Weight Management Seminar Wednesday, Oct. 13

In 1999, an estimated 61% of U.S. adults were either overweight or obese. This year, the percentage has increased to 64.5%, according to the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Because being overweight or obese can negatively affect general health and medical conditions, Catawba Valley Medical Center is offering a Surgical Weight Management seminar at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 13 in the Northwest AHEC Lecture Hall, Room 112 adjacent to the medical center. Providing a presentation will be bariatric surgeons Jim Cook, M.D., and Monty Cox, M.D., about the Roux-En-Y" laparoscopic gastric bypass procedure. A question and answer session about the surgery and treatments for morbid obesity will follow the presentation. The seminar is free. The surgical procedure reduces the size of a person's stomach through stapling, restricting the amount of food that can be consumed at one time. The rest of the stomach is bypassed and no longer receives food. The procedure also bypasses a section of the small intestine, which reduces the amount of calories absorbed from food and fluids consumed. The Surgical Weight Management Program at CVMC offers assistance and support to those who have tried repeatedly to lose the excess weight and keep it off. The program approach is comprehensive, aimed at improving health and prolonging life, and is for individuals 18 years or older who are severely overweight (at least 100 pounds over recommended weight) and have exhausted all efforts to lose weight through diet and exercise. For more information or to register for the seminar, contact the Program Coordinator at 828-326-2082. Catawba Valley Medical Center is a not-for-profit healthcare system providing and promoting the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual well being of the public in addition to serving as a center for health education, wellness services, preventative medicine and acute care. It was designated in 2001 as the thirty-second Magnet facility in the nation and the second in the Carolinas.