Temple University?

Just wondering if anyone has had surgery within the last few months or so at Temple? I'm pretty much getting ready to wrap up my insurance stuff and will most likely be having RNY. My surgeon is Dr Soriano. I origionally chose him because he seemed very qualified for the sleeve. Now it looks like I'm going with RNY due to insurance reasons and I am planning on staying with Dr Soriano.

Any feedback would be great

I had surgery at Jeannes Hospital where the Bariatric Unit is a subset of Temple --- maybe the whole hospital is.   My Physician is at Jeannes, Dr. Kowalski.  I really felt he was very, very qualified and very professional.  I liked his staff but feel "something" was missing from the experience when I read about the experience folks who had their surgery at Barix have had.  It might be just in my mind.

I can't help you with the Temple thing, because I had my surgery at Barix.  But I did want to respond to Lisa's post about feeling that "something" was missing...  and this is not an attempt to get you to switch docs or whatever.

I picked Barix because of the extensive support network they had set up.  Between support groups, the Barix Bible (a book they give you with literally "everything you need to know" including recipes for each recovery stage), the online Barix site, and the accessibility of the docs (Dr. P gives her patients her cell phone number with instructions to call her without hesitation, day or night), they seemed so well organized and to have thought out all aspects of the recovery process.  I think it's the scope of the organization, as a national specialty center that handles nothing but WLS that makes it possible to provide that type of support. 

For those who have gone another route, finding this type of info may be a bit harder, but it's possible to do so.  You're on this board (that's a great start)... and you can come to a Barix support group whenever you'd like.  We have a bunch of non-Barix people who come out and there's no problem with that.  As to the Barix bible, if you can get your hands on a copy, it's truly wonderful... perhaps a friend would let you make a copy of the recipes you like or some of the "frequently asked questions" that you may have.  I don't believe they sell it separately (it's only for patients), but it's worth calling and asking because it truly is a wealth of info.  

Karen

I hear only good things about the Temple program.  I was originally referred there, but
chose PENN.
Their surgery coordinator was so helpful and sweet.

good luck!

My husband had surgery in 2006 @ Temple. We both have nothing but praise for the surgeons. He had Dr. Kowalski wonderful, wonderful, caring surgeon.

I am in the process of working towards my surgery but at Jeanes which is owned by Temple. My surgeon will be Dr. Dempsey. I wanted Dr. Kowalski but due to some existing medical conditions I have Dr. Dempsey was the one to go see on recommendations from my other physicians. I'm still in the very pre stages of my journey.

My husband and I do go to the first Saturday support group meeting at Barix. Temple has a support group, however, my husband never felt as if the Temple support group gave him what he was needing. Those at Barix have opened their arms to welcome us, they have an awesome support group system.

Ida

I had my RNY at Temple on March 30th, but my surgeon was Dr. Meilahn.  I was very impressed with the program at Temple, espeically in terms of my hospital stay.  One thing that really drew me to the program at Temple was how easy the process was:  they took care of my insurance, told me exactly where to be and when to be there for all the pre-op appointments, and everything followed a nice, neat time line.  I thought that the pre-op information was concise but helpful.  Post op, I feel comfortable e-mailing with the nutritionist when I have questions. My primary care doctor recommended Temple as the best bariatric program in Philadelphia.

<----- hates temple.

i'm dreading going next week.

i had dr. meilahn ...who is an amazing "surgeon".  i'm sure dr. sorino is just as great.

i was not at all happy with the bariatric program in general, though it seems to be getting better.
make sure you stay on top on things...because they dont.

good luck to you!

Yeah, its funny I feel like for me I really do have to stay on top of things. I went to see Dr Soriano Jan 6th, there have been a few times where I've had to call and almost re-activate the entire process. Since I want the sleeve my insurance is giving me a hard time with it and they have denied it and now Dr Soriano will have to do a peer to peer thing, but at one point it was like the office (Temple) didn't really know what was going on. I know they are busy and I am NOT their only patient, its just that this is really important to me and I would like to have updates as soon as they hear something. I really like Dr Soriano and I paid my upfont fee of 350.00 so I don't want to go hoping around but sometimes I wished I would have gone with University of Penn, but they didn't offer the sleeve

Sorry, I just read your other post or I would have included this in my prior post. I don't know if you ever attended any seminars, but alot of insurances do not cover the sleeve, since it is a relatively a new procedure. But it is your job to contact your insurance initially to see if they do cover any form of bariatric surgery. This is a surgery that will bring you life long changes, and your participation should start at the beginning, even with the paper work and appointments. the more you work WITH them the faster the entire process goes.

I had surgery at Temple on Feb 26th with Dr Soriano. I had the RNY via lap. The entire experience went very well. All the staff is very professional and you won't go wrong. I choose Temple over Jeanes because I wanted a larger institution, one that had major staffing 24 hrs per day-just in case. Temple has a nursing unit whose nurses are trained to take care of patients who have has bariatric surgery. I wish you good luck in your upcoming endeavors. Feel free to ask me about the doc--hes very good. I haven't had any problems--but I do follow all their instructions