Hi - I am referring to Victoria only and everyone has to sign a waiver now and they they have patients sign up for a food tracking program that they can view the patients log results. It's good thing as it puts through the patients that are dedicated and committed to a lifestyle change.

There are 200 surgeries each allotted to Richmond and Victoria per year. Wait times depend on surgeons holidays, patients readiness for surgery medically, physically and psychologically. They now have to sign a waiver that they commit to being drug and alcohol free. They are testing. It has been proven that Bariatric patients are vulnerable to addictive behaviours and those that make the necessary changes pre surgery have the best outcome. As this surgery has a 50% success rate it is in the patients best interests too.

I just tried to find your group and it doesn't come up. Is it a secret group? Thanks.

Hi all, I'm a veteran of WLS and a life coach. I had my surgery here in Vancouver, and lost 100 lbs. Lately I've noticed that so many wls successes struggle with body changes. I've been pretty lucky myself, as an older married woman I'm okay with some sagging and wrinkles, but I would love to hear from others about what struggles they might have with this issue. You can share here, or message me privately, it would really help me become a more effective coach. And hopefully I can share some tips, too.

Thanks!

Indeed, it does seem unfair. And undoubtedly that's why the time on the wait list has jumped so much for Richmond -- people are slotted in ahead of the line. And if I have things figured out more or less correctly, the lengthening of the wait list occurred around the time Medweight got going (it's a relatively new program).

It does make some sense in that candidates for the surgery who have attended Medweight are very well prepared, and I imagine Richmond really likes that. As for me, I feel vindicated, as Dr. Zentner neglected to send in my referral to Richmond and then wouldn't rectify the situation for me. I also might add that I travel quite a distance to get to Coquitlam; it's a whole day for me to attend the 90-minute group medical visits, so I feel I deserve to jump the line!

In the meantime the wait list for Victoria is much shorter than it used to be, so there's still that option for those who live on the Island or are willing to travel -- and MSP does pay for the ferries. Also, Dr Pewarchuk, who now heads the program there, is very cool. He is also exploring options for working with patients through online technology. I think there's great promise there, although people obviously would still have to travel to Victoria for the surgery itself.