Dr. Jason Radecke has a radical idea.
This particular bariatric surgeon, who has a 5-star rating from WebMD – says it’s an idea he shares with the new ownership team at the Sebastian River Medical Center, Steward Health Care LLC.
“The Steward relationship with their patients,” says Radecke, “[is focused on] preventative medicine. It’s ‘let’s actually get you healthier now.’”
With that in mind, and it light of a nationwide obesity problem, Radecke is determined to challenge what he sees as misconceptions about surgery in general and bariatric (or weight-loss) surgery in particular.
“There is still a push [by some physicians] to keep people out of surgery, but with all the medical problems these people have,” Radecke explains, surgery is statistically the fastest, safest and the best path to a healthier life.
He’s got some impressive backup, too.
Both the American College of Surgeons and the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery flatly say “the co-morbidities associated with obesity range from diabetes to heart disease to certain types of cancers [but] bariatric surgical procedures have been shown to reduce obesity, improve mortality and decrease the health risks from chronic diseases such as cardiomyopathy and diabetes.”
Indeed, just last year the Cleveland Clinic released its five-year follow-up to the peer-reviewed and widely acclaimed STAMPEDE (Surgical Treatment and Medications Potentially Eradicate Diabetes Efficiently) study which, in uncharacteristically plain English, stated simply “over 88 percent of gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy patients maintained healthy blood glucose levels without the use of insulin” for five years after the initial trial.
Moreover, the clinic concluded, “overall weight loss was significantly greater” with bariatric surgery than with traditional diet and exercise regimens still favored by some primary care physicians.
So what exactly is Radecke’s radical idea?
Do the bariatric surgery now and reap the rewards of being – and staying – healthier for years to come rather than putting it off as a last resort.
Besides listening to his colleagues, reading medical journals and studying all the clinical trials carefully, Radecke also tunes into his patients’ feelings.
He says many patients are telling him, “I’m tired of taking 22 pills a day. I’m tired of being obese. I’m tired of my joints hurting. I’m tired of injecting myself with needles six times a day.”
All too often, says Radecke, patients just come right out and say, “‘I don’t want to live like this anymore. I’m looking into the next 10, 20, 30 years of my life and I see I’m headed into these golden years but what’s so golden about being a diabetic and having a pill box in front of me and not being able to walk to the mailbox and back without hurting like you wouldn’t believe?’”
Most of his patients already know their obesity can – and probably will – lead to diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, sleep apnea and a host of other problems which, statistically, will likely lead to a heart attack or a stroke.
Meanwhile, Radecke points out, the odds of having a complication during bariatric weight loss surgery are almost ridiculously small: around .05 percent to 1.5 percent, he says.
While it is true the youthful-looking Radecke does have hyper-specialized fellowship training, he also has another important advantage when treating obese patients. With offices in both Vero and Sebastian, he performs his surgeries at the Treasure Coast’s only certified bariatric “Center of Excellence” – the Sebastian River Medical Center.
There isn’t one in Vero or in Melbourne or down the road at Lawnwood.
Centers of Excellence can only achieve that coveted accreditation by following a rigorous review process during which they prove they can maintain certain physical resources, human resources and standards of practice along with having certain types of equipment geared specifically toward the bariatric patient and meeting or exceeding a pre-defined number of bariatric cases per year.
SRMC, say Radecke, meets or exceeds all of those standards each year.
So, getting “healthier now” through bariatric weight loss surgery is Radecke’s radical – or maybe just common-sense – idea.
As Radecke puts it in closing, “Bariatric surgery is, in my opinion, the poster child for preventative medicine.”
Dr. Jason Radecke is with Riverside Surgical & Weight Loss Center and the Sebastian River Medical Center. His Sebastian office is at 14430 U.S. 1. His Vero office is at 3745 11th Circle, Suite 103. To make an appointment to talk about safely losing weight now, call 772-581-8003.
