Did all of GBMC's staff change?

Originally, Dr. Von Rueden was my surgeon, but he left to go to St. Agnes, and I decided to stick with Dr. Moein.  But since Dr. VR's departure, it seems like they have all new staff and I never see any of the "old" people there.  Did they all go with Dr. VR or did they quit? Is Sloan still the nutritionist?  Are Kathy and Barbie still nurses there?  What about Rose the billing person? The only people I ever see now are Mary and Nick.

Hi There, I had my 1 year post op appt with DVR at St. Agnes on April 9th.  Sloan, Barbie & Rose is there with him.  I didn't see Kathy so I have no idea if she stood with Dr. Moein.

I know that Sloan, Kathy and Rose went with DVR. I thought Barbie stayed, but with Cira's reply, I guess I am wrong. That's disappointing. Barbie had been my nurse at every appointment I had pre-op. I don't know if I know who Mary is. The only time I have had Nick care for me was when I was actually in unit 48 post-op. He is awesome!

Mary said she was Dr. Moein's nurse. I've only talked to her in person once and on the phone a couple of times. I agree that Nick is awesome.  He's really helpful and answers a lot of questions.  He took my drain out last week at my post-op appt and it barely hurt.  I also saw him on Unit 48 on my last day. He told me he just picks up extra shifts over there for extra money. Does anyone know why Dr. VR left GBMC?  I would have thought that the staff would have stayed at GBMC, since I assume that St. Agnes already had staff.  So I was surprised when they were all gone.

It is my understanding that DVR brought his program with him.

I heard from another Dr that DVR wanted to expand the practice at GBMC but the hospital was not willing to cooperate.  St Agnes has an operating room just for bariatric surgury and they are  supportive of the Bariatric program.  I did not realize that Barbie left too:  that really sucks big time .  I hate to say this but  I may have to follow DVR too St Agnes.  I don't like some of the things I see happening at GBMC but thats just my opinion.  I called in Late Feb/early march for my 9 month post op appt.  I was given a date of April 29 ( three weeks after I had hoped for )  then they called and cancelled that and gave me a new appointment for May 1.  No explanation given.  If they cancel this one I will definatly change back to DVR. I may be wrong but it seems to me that DVR and Dr Mo used to attend the support group meetings;  I have been too the last two and there has been no sighting of Dr Mo.  Now I understand that hes a busy Dr -  but I think the support  group meetings need him there.

Darla, I was wondering myself why he hadn't at least stopped by. I do know, from my own experience, that he is in surgery on Wednesdays, and then makes rounds to see his patients before leaving for the night. I won't see him again until mid-June, but I do plan on asking him. I just hope they find another great doc to assist with the practice. I wouldn't like to see Dr. Moein get too burnt out. I don't know how many of DVR's patients he has taken on, but I can imagine that with the practice being as large as it was, that he did get a fair amount of new patients. Plus, it's still growing with all of his new pre-op patients. I have to say that while I liked the majority of the old team, I think everyone I have recently met has been great. I think (well, at least I hope) that they just need a chance to get their practices together and determine what works best for all of them. I've heard the new nut is awesome.

I have another question.  When I started with the practice (Jan/Feb 2007) I had to pay the $500 program fee and was told that it included all of my pre-op stuff, supervised weigh-loss, the pre-op class, etc., PLUS free nutritional counseling and support groups for life. But now I see signs that say if you want to see the nutritionist that it is $40.   I'm confused.  Did the fee only apply when Dr. VR was there? And if so, I feel I should get a partial refund, since I am not getting all of what it was for (if I have to pay for nutritional counseling).   Also, my husband paid the fee because he was going to have the surgery too, but then he up and lost 80lbs all on his own (still losing) and decided that the surgery wasn't for him. (He's a total exercise nut and once he starts a diet can really do well eating boring, bland food day in and day out).  We asked for a refund awhile back (under Dr. VR) and they (Rose) refused but said if he wanted the surgery later, he would not have to pay the fee.  But since that can't happen now (have surrgery at GBMC with Dr. VR) I find that to be unfair.  I also feel that it is unfair that they wouldn't at least refund part of it.

I would suggest check with Dr. Mo as far as the program fee:  he might honor what Rose / DVR stated.  If not I would contact DVR at St Agnes -  he might wave their program fee.

From what I was told you could get a refund of the fee up until the third monthly visit.

 

Good Luck to you

I'm not sure if the $500 program fee includes free nutritional counseling for life. Support groups are always free for this type of surgery at GBMC. I understood the program fee to cover the nutritional counseling I had to go through with each supervised weight loss visit (I had to do them once a month for six months).

I think the note about nutritionist visitings costing $40 is for post-ops only... who have kind of "fallen off the wagon", so to speak.