Curious About Weightloss Surgery on PEI
Hi there,
My name is Kristi and I am new to this community. I am very interested in gastric bypass surgery. I moved here from Ontario 6.5yrs ago so am not too sure of the proticol here but know that in Ontario if approved the government will pay for the surgery(my cousin just had her's done and is doing amazing). So I guess what I am wondering is how does one go about it here? Is it all out of pocket or does the government pay or a bit of both? Where is the surgery performed? I am 5'4" and 331lbs seeing a Dr and dietician but would like to get more information before going to ask them because if it is an all pocket expense it simply wont be happening. I tried looking online but could not for the life of me find any information regarding PEI.
Thanks!
Hey Kristi, good to hear another new "voice" on the site...PEI does not have a gastric surgeon so you have 2 options...NB or NS.....I personally went through Moncton, NB...as have about 4-5 of us over the last 2 years....but the first step of anything is to get your family Dr to send a referral to a surgeon. Then the waiting game starts....I am not 100% sure of the wait times NOW, but mine was 10 years from the first time I sent a referral to actually getting in to see him, but it got shuffled around a few times first....but I hear it may be about 2 years now...not sure, but if you have "other" medical issues with your weight it may be faster...but get the referral done first, then you have time to think through everything...The name if the surgeon can be found on this site...but we all call him Dr B (Dr. Sylvain Beausoleil) you should be able to google him and get all the info for your doctor....
The surgery itself is totally covered by Health PEI once you have been approved, but the travel is not...so you can collect all your receipts and submit them with your taxes.....from your first visit to surgery it takes at least 5 visits. There is a girl here in town who had her's done in Halifax and it is a different process, but pretty much takes the same time frame...we usually have a coffee meeting time once every 2 months or so on a Wed evening or so, so keep an eye on the site and we can meet up to give you more info if you want.....
Hope this helps you out...most of us post on the NB site as that is where our surgeon is and there is alot more "traffic"
Good luck
