1st Bariatric Surgery at St. Luke’s Warren Campus

St. Luke’s Warren Campus in Phillipsburg, N.J., is proud to announce that it now offers bariatric surgery.

A 54-year-old, Stewartsville, N.J., man seeking weight loss and a reduction in hypertension and cholesterol was the hospital’s first bariatric surgery patient. He went home last week after a successful “sleeve gastrectomy” operation to reduce the size of his stomach.

“Our patient did very well,” said St. Luke’s surgeon Ikemefuna Akusoba, M.D. “This is the first of successful surgeries to come in Warren County to fight obesity and associated diseases.”

Akusoba was assisted by St. Luke’s surgeon T. Javier Birriel, M.D. Both Akusoba and Birriel have extensive bariatric surgical experience at other St. Luke’s campuses.

“We are very proud to be able to bring our passion for improving the health of patients through surgical weight management to Phillipsburg and the surrounding region,” Birriel said. “This is an incredible opportunity that we’re thrilled to begin at the Warren campus.”

Bariatric surgery can be life-changing. Patients successfully lose weight, gain confidence and enjoy healthier, fuller and more active lives. As the scale shows the measurable loss of weight, the patient’s quality of life—both physical and emotional—improves.

“This was the natural next step for our campus after opening our medical weight loss program last August at St Luke's Hillcrest Professional Plaza in Philipsburg,” said St. Luke’s Warren Campus President Scott Wolfe. “We now become the third full service site within the St. Luke's bariatric program, bringing this much needed service to the easternmost part of the expanding market that St. Luke's serves.  We look forward to the positive impact this program will have on the health of our community members!”

St. Luke’s Weight Management Center’s office at St. Luke’s Hillcrest Professional Plaza is located at Building 302, 755 Memorial Parkway. For more information about the St. Luke’s Weight Management Center, call 866-STLUKES or visit weightloss.sluhn.org.

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 10 hospitals and over 320 outpatient sites.  With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 10 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe and Schuylkill counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.  Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.  In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus.  It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 28 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 226 residents and fellows.  St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.  St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital.  In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals.  St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program.  Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information.  St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.