Bariatric surgery, in combination with a healthy diet and exercise, is a treatment option for improving obesity and obesity-related diseases. It involves making changes to the digestive system to assist in the management of weight and ultimately improve health and well-being.
To help more people access bariatric surgical care, the Ontario Bariatric Network (OBN) has 12 designated Bariatric Centres in Ontario that offer comprehensive pre-operative, peri-operative and post-operative care. In partnership with Unity Health Toronto, Michael Garron Hospital has opened a Bariatric Centre of Excellence to provide the East Toronto community access to bariatric surgical care close to home.
About the Bariatric Centre of Excellence
Our Bariatric Centre of Excellence is a partnership between Michael Garron Hospital and Unity Health Toronto. It includes an assessment centre at Providence Healthcare and three bariatric surgery sites: St. Michael’s Hospital, St. Joseph’s Health Centre and MGH.
Patients seen at our Centre will first visit the Providence site to meet with an inter-professional team of bariatric experts. The team will help patients assess if this is the right time to undergo bariatric surgery and discuss the different factors to consider as they make this decision.
Surgery can then take place at one of the three surgical sites. Patients wanting to receive their bariatric surgical care at MGH can specify this with their physician during the referral process.
Referrals
The Centre can be accessed through referral by a primary care physician. Referring physicians must register and submit referrals through the OBN’s online referral system.
While the OBN assigns each patient to one of its local centres based on geography, physicians have the option to indicate a preference for our Centre in the comments section during the referral process.
Visit the Ontario Bariatric Network website for more information.