Forum

I forgot a couple of things to mention – we talked about regionalism and support.  Basically the idea of it is silly to have all the surgeries done in Victoria and Richmond.  We live in a big province and the people will recover better in their home region, also there will be more support if their bariatric teams were also in their region.  This would involve either training or travel for the surgical team members but that should not be an issue. 

The other thing I forgot to mention to you is our discussion about wait times for surgery.  The PHSA people thought that the surgeries should happen in a six month window of time from when the patient is approved by the surgeon.  I do not agree with that and whole heartedly believe that it takes about two years for a patient to fully encompass the required change of lifestyle, diet, and exercise to be successful in bariatric surgery.

That led to a discussion of who should have the operations and we both agreed that bariatric surgery should only be done on patients who have proven that they can make the lifestyle changes to be as successful case.  Bariatric surgery is not a cure but only a tool.  If it treated like a cure without the follow up of lifestyle change, diet and exercise then it is a waste of resources and there are so many people who can be successful it would be bad to lose their spot.  We then talked about why people couldn't be successful and issues of health, mobility, fitness, and emotional fitness came to mind.  These would all have to be areas that would be judged under the discreation of the surgeon and the bariatric team.

Speaking of the bariatric team I forgot to include an important member of the team.  It is my belief that psychological counseling should be part of the team.  And that counseling should be a mandatory part of the process both before and after the surgery.  It needs to be mandatory so that the cost of the counseling can be covered by msp.

I am sure I missed something else because we did talk for a long time.