Dancing with Doctors -- New Program for Obese Patients

On Monday, August 10, an innovative program to deliver obesity services at DHS facilities garnered local news coverage on ABC Channel 7, Los Angeles News. Sponsored in part by a CTSI-LA County Department of Health Services grant, doctors at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Hospital are trying a new program to help obese patients lose weight and keep it off forever. Groups of patients meet twice a month with doctors and other health professionals to exercise and learn how to eat in a healthy way.

Watch ABC Channel 7 Health Specialist Denise Dador's full report.

The overall objective of the study is to test the effect on body weight of attending a group weight loss program that serve an underserved population. The group setting is more likely to be successful than traditional physician patient encounters as it incorporates two crucial aspects of the patient?s health experience: the patient's own effectiveness in managing medical problems together with his or her health care team, and the patient's own community for support in integrating medical recommendations into his or her daily life. View a slide presentation on the program here.