Need recommendations of places to go in Metro DC for supervised weight loss. I live in the Bowie, Md area and would welcome any suggestions.

Hi, I was wondering if there's a DC legislative group for WLS? I understand that our neighbors (MD & VA) have something on the books stating that if a physician deems it medically necessary, the insurance company is required to pay for the weight loss surgery. With that said, I want to find out whether a legislative action group has already been created in DC (similar to the one in MD - http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/MD_WLS_Legislative_Action_Committee/). Also, is anyone aware whether a bill has already been submitted to the D.C. Council? Thanks for you help, Fran

ObesityHelp is pleased to announce that tonight, Nov 17th at 9:00p.m EST/6:00p.m. PST we will be hosting a one hour question and answer session with Advanced Patient Financing. Advanced Patient Financing is a company who assists prospective Bariatric and Plastic Surgery patients in getting financing. The chat room will be open 30 mins prior to the beginning of the chat. At that time, the moderator will start taking questions in preparation for when the APF representative arrives. To access the Surgeon Chat, http://www.obesityhelp.com/morbidobesity/chatroom-premod.phtml visit our chat room, and at the top of this page, you will see the announcement that the chat is in progress. Click on that banner and it will route you to the chat room. Once you log in, you can type out your questions in the free form area provided and hit enter. Your question will have been submitted to the Moderator and will be answered by the APF Rep in the order in which it was received. Kirk Thompson aka CROW -450# Lost Member Service Team Leader Obesityhelp.com

ObesityHelp is proud to announce that we are about to start training the new Chapter Leaders on November 29, 2004 and would like to count you in that group. If you have ever expressed an interest in being a Chapter leader or have just wanted to help people. This is for you. If you are interested in starting an ObesityHelp Chapter please e-mail me back ASAP with you name, address, and phone number to: [email protected] We will be mailing the training packets out with the training schedule right away. All training will be conducted in a conference phone in room. There are three sections to the training. All instructions will be included with your manual. If you responded to this already and did not get a response from me please send me an e-mail to me directly as I lost a number of e-mails. Please feel free to contact me at 866 957-4636 x 385 if you have any questions or concerns. It's a Lifestyle, Monica Ganz, Ph.D.

There was a question about B&A photos for the gallery. So everyone knows this is basically the rules for that.... Eric nor I have ever said standing only for B&A Photos. I don't know where this is written, it's not true. And we've always requested from knees up... we just don't want a face shot only. And some don't have a knees up type of photo for before... what my letters have always stated to members are, "You might not have a full body for a before photo, but you've lost 100#... come on.. show it off! You can always take the current/after photo!" There are many photos on there w/ people sitting. Those are OK. Eric's favorite type of photos are where the person is in the same position in the after shot that they were in the before shot... and some after shots are even taken next to that same tree, or same railing, or same fireplace or in the same chair. Those are great for comparisons on how well you've done, but they have never been required. I apologize for confusion. Please, if there's ever any questions on any of this, instead of starting wars amongst yourselves, please, always come and ask me first. I don't seem very visible these days.. I'm taking three classes again and am finally getting that diploma :grad: I've been waiting and working so hard for (next step, the AAS, in ONLY six classes), but I'm always here for you. I might not get back to you the same day, but I will get back to you.. or one of my assistants will, if they can help you. If they can't help you, then my door's always open. Love ya! :kiss: Photo Processing Manager - Photos to [email protected] & Questions or concerns to [email protected]