Pre-op Seminar @ Good Sam, Not So Good

I hope I don't get flamed for this one - my intent is to inform, not upset! This past weekend (Saturday morning) I attended a pre-op seminar at Good Sam in Phoenix and the speaker was Dr. Alexander Villares. A very dear friend of mine is considering lap-band and wanted my support, so of course I jumped at the opportunity to be there by her side while she digested the info. Perhaps Dr. Villares is a horrible presenter and a great surgeon, but I walked away from the hour-long seminar feeling disappointed and sorry for my friend as well as the other attendees. The insurance guru on their staff opened the presentation, introduced Dr. Villares, and then closed again to answer insurance-related questions. Dr Villares whisked through a PowerPoint presentation and spent the bulk of his time (20 minutes or so) describing the 4 procedures he performs. Five of the 15 or so people in attendance asked questions, 3 of which were insurance-related. There was no mention of: Pre-op processes Post-op care Nutrition Exercise What to expect before, during, after Side effects He mentioned dumping several times and never explained what it was. He mentioned strictures and didn't describe those either. To make matters worse, he stood at a podium with his back to his "audience" so he could read the text in the PowerPoint presentation. His speech was inundated with "uhm"s. It was like he had never presented this information before - I didn't feel very confident in him and neither did my friend. I should have raised my hand and brought some of these things to his attention, but I hesitated too long and before I knew it he was picking up his 6-year-old daughter (who had been patiently sitting at the back of the room waiting for him) and took off out of the room. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE if you are considering WLS at Good Sam with Dr. Alexander Villares or Dr. Hilario Juarez, please ask as many questions as possible. Even better, attend the FREE seminar put on by Scottsdale Bariatric Center because THAT seminar was so entirely thorough with statistics, post-op WLS speakers, etc. Again, I don't question his abilities as a surgeon, but I feel their seminar needs a lot of work in preparing patients for this life-changing event. Nicole

or Dr. Hilario Juarez,    If he wasnt there why are you adding him to this post?  I have been to many different seminars, and most are the same. Too little time with too much info needed to give.  MOST are FREE if not all are free. I never paid a dime to attend or talk with a doctor.  While  Pre-op processes, Post-op care, Nutrition, Exercise, What to expect before, during, after Side effects are all VERY important they are mostly addressed in your  PRE OP appointment with the doctor. I have been to Blackstone's seminars a couple of times now and she "SALES" herself more then giving much needed info. Not my style but is her's. And that's who she is.  It is OUR job to be informed, to educated ourselfs and to ask questions. If you or other people did not raise your hand and ASK MUCH NEEDED INFO then you really only have yourselfs to blame.   Im not trying to be rude however I did feel the need to give me 2 cents as the post seemed to give a hand out to Blackstone and really had no value as most seminars are short and to the point, many offer only a % of the infor really wanted. Again not trying to be rude just state a point!

I mentioned Dr. Hilario Juarez because, while the presentation was given by Dr. Villares, it was in representation of both surgeons operating through that hospital. Look, I'm not saying anything about his abilities as a surgeon nor am I implying this presentation was much different than others you might have attended.  I'm just saying Blackstone's seminar was far more informative, professional, and I walked away feeling confident. Anyone can hop on the Internet and read about the surgery. As far as I'm concerned these REQUIRED pre-op seminars should really highlight that particular hospital's methods and this seminar clearly did not do that. The intention of my post was to encourage patients that may plan on attending this seminar to ask questions and be prepared for a rushed presentation and to let them know they aren't limited to attending just the seminar put out by one hospital. Knowledge is power - the more we have through this WLS journey, the better! If you think the seminars are short and have no value, you and I will have to agree to disagree there. I'm sorry you felt my post was rude, but it certainly wasn't my intention for it to be.

Gee, you sure took a lot of unnecessary flack from the first poster.  I think your post was informative and definitely did not blast anyone.  Thanks for your info.  Many people who come to these informational seminars are at the beginning of their wl journey and don't know what questions to ask and certainly don't know that certain behaviors like "dumping" are surgery specific and don't apply to all wls types like the band.  Also they don't know that some wls work by malabsorption or restriction and that the band is not the only restrictive type of wls. I know a lady that had band surgery, joined a band support group but thought she had a different type of wl surgery!  This is true, not made up. So, a good presenter is a must.  Thanks again.

" Gee, you sure took a lot of unnecessary flack from the first poster. " Not flack, feedback is all. One is able state their mind so should others. That's all. Not personal or pointed. Just feedback.  Sorry if it seemed like flack. I may want to re- word such thoughts the next time around.

When I went to my initial seminar at Duke in North Carolina, I was blown away at how thorough it was. The presenter, Dr. DeMaria is on the executive board of the ASBS and has dedicated his long career to bariatrics and research. Their entire seminar, segmented by topic is available online now at dukewls.org under informational videos - just thought I would share.

Cool! Thanks, Michael. I'll show my friend - what a great resource!

I didnt think u where rude just not thought out enough. I would have refrained for stating anything about Dr. J if he was not there to add to the seminar. 

Good points Nicole, I went to every seminar in town, and even one in LAS before I made my decision to go with Dr Blackstone.  The seminar I went to at Good Sam was with Dr Fang and was very similar to your experience, but fortunately for me, he was like the 5th seminar I went to and I had already did plenty of research.  That's not the case unfortunately for other people who may have not done as much research as I did.  I've had friends who had surgery with Dr Fang and Dr Juarez and both had good results, but all Dr's have much different programs.  I am very pleased with Dr Blackstone and her program, and I myself have had great success in the last 5 months.  It is up to us post-ops to help further educate pre-ops with as much information as possible.  We all have a soft spot for our surgeons, and I am no different, Dr B saved my life, and for that I will be forever grateful to her and her staff.    :-)   Alli    

I agree, Blackstone is a great surgeon. I would not have went to her for over a year if she wasnt. However my thoughts changed on what I wanted from a   surgeon when I had to pay for WLS myself. I guess what I was trying to get across that more seminar's are in fact short and not always very pointed. How can u cram all that is needed to know in an hour to two hours? I have a very different thoughts on how Blackstone runs her seminars and how she handles her office staff.  Both times I went to her seminars she did give good info and was a good speaker however with that said I didnt care for hear all of her sale tones about who ( celebrities ) she has done WLS on.  Also that they where pain in the butts. There where other items of concern as well but are not in void.   I AGREE with Nicole about the not getting the info needed. That was one let down I found to be  consistent with all I attended. Maybe I didnt make that clear enough in my post though I should have. I was just stating my thoughts on the subject at hand no more or less and it was not to be personal at all. Just wanted to put that out there.