Calgary Weight Management Program

I am just wondering if anyone here is going to be in this round of the Calgary Weight Management program that is having its Orientation at the end of this month and early next month and starting their bi-weekly meetings starting mid Feb.
Let me know if you are going to be there!
Look forward to meeting some people going on the same journey as I am!

 Hi there!

I, too am located in Calgary and I was referred by my family doctor for the Calgary Weight Management program starting in Feb.

After researching lap band surgery for 2 years, I decided to go ahead and self pay to have it done in Mexico. I am having the surgery next Thursday.

My own doctor recommended I go else where and self pay I could because the wait times for this procedure to be done in Alberta can be years. 

I was looking forward to attending the program and meeting others going through the same struggles as myself, but due to my choice of having the surgery done outside Alberta, I am no longer able to qualify to attend. 

I wish you all the best as you begin what will be a life changing journey!

Take Care
Lisa  (McKenzie Towne SE)

 hi, how long were you waiting for a referal before you got this feb appointment?

Hi Lisa,

I'm in your neck of the woods in New Brighton SE, I'm scheduled to have banding in September in Mexico also.  How are you feeling since your procedure?  Any complications?
I would love to have a few "banding" friends in the city, would you be interested? Thats the only anxiety I have now, coming home and finding myself alone in the process.
Heather

It was around 3 or 4 months before I received a letter in the mail. When I saw that surgery was not necessarily an option after doing the program, I decided to commit to going to have the self pay surgery.

I too waited quite a few months before I got the letter just a few weeks ago. I am not sure what you mean by surgery is not necessarily an option after the program.
Does that mean that you don't think you will get approved? I am really not sure about how things work here in Alberta with the approval process, so if you could educate me on this I would appreciate it.

Hi Kelly

I can add a little insight on the approval topic, on your first appoitnment they will make you sign a piece of paper saying even if you do everything right you may not be selected for surgery. there are a limited number of surgeries each year.

That's what I had heard as well. Hopefully there will be more surgeries made available in Alberta with the new Obesity Initiative program recently announced.

I'm sure you will find out lots of information once you attend your first meeting in Calgary. I have heard that it is a wonderful program and I wish you great success with it.

Lisa

I do not know how many people had got the surgeries before a year, but I have heard that the budget is twice as much this year for the program and there will be twice as many surgeries.

How do they decide who out of the group will be given the surgery after the program has been completed? If you are for some reason not chosen to get the surgery after going through the 3 month program are you put on a waiting list or do you have to go through the program again and hope to get selected that round?
I have been searching the Alberta forums for people that did not recieve the surgery but I am having a hard time finding those that have been denied.
Where should I look?

So here is how it works or it did this year. When i started there was 25 but then budget came in for more surgeries and they doubled it to 50 surgeries for this last session. There were quite a few people that had returned from the previous year. There is no wait list, if you dont get selected you have to start the process all over again.

The way I heard it was going to go for this round was 50 surguries but they would be divided up over how many sessions they would be having. It means people don't need to wait as long to get it. From what I have read there will be 50 this year, 100 the next year and they want to be up 500 5 years from now.

Last year  2010 there was 800 people that started for 25 surgeries