New Support Group in Fredericksburg, VA - not stepping on toes, just passing along the info!

Hey all, my nutritionist has just started a support group for the Fredericksburg area, anyone is welcome, she is used to having a group of about 112 people and only has 3 right now with this new location and program!  Mary Washington just made this bariatric team about a year ago.  My dr is Dr. Stelmack, but again, anyone is welcome with any surgery.  She is GREAT! It is held on the third tues of every month at the Mary Washington hospital  I need to double check the time so if you are interested just let me know!

You are not stepping on any toes. I know Deanna the nutritionsit there very well. She used to be the nutritionist for Dr Halmi over two years ago when she ran that support group - which was the large one she used to run. . Then she had a couple of different jobs and is now  back working as the nutritionist for Mary Washington Hospital - which she has been for a little while now.  They are lucky to have her!  She is an excellent nutritionist.  Members of my support group have tried and asked many times for information on their support group but were ignored  and not answered and they did not have one up and running. Also they were also not going to include anyone who was not a Dr Stelmack patient. . If they have changed their minds I am happy for that because it will take them a long time to become a Center of Excellence without a decent support group, now that they are starting again from scratch. I wish them luck - I may go visit them myself! I will talk to Deanna about it..... Jackie

lol, I just wanted to make sure it didn't come across as being competition! lol.  no flaming here! hehe. i love Deanna, she is great!  I told her that i was on a few different forums and that I talk to some people who are future patients of Dr. Stelmack and Mirza's and some that were not patients there at all, she said all are welcome though she would love to see at least a few of her patients! lol.  She said the three that are going now are not patients of MWH it's pretty new though, I guess they have only had one or two meetings.  I promised her I would attend the next one.  She's so sweet and positive!  thanks for responding to this, and i am glad you know Deanna too!  I am sure she would be happy to have you!

There is always room for some support here. Perhaps you can come to one of our meetings too! We are not having one in June as we have the Meet and Greet BBQ/Health Seminar on June 28th instead. Of course you are welcome to come to that. We don't have the restrictions of the hospital so we put on events and glamor shots etc that Deanna will not be doing............  I wish her luck....... Mary Washington Hospital does not have a good reputation for Gastric Bypass Surgery so I hope this new program that they restarted with new doctors etc will work for her - sadly she is fighting against that too.  And I hope they can get their Center of Excellence so they can take the Medicaid (or is it Medicare) patients too because many insurances will only allow patients to go to Centers of Excellence.  Jackie

I was planning on coming to yours as well, and am on the e-mail list.  I have to photograph a wedding June 28th though so i won't be available that day.  I will be out of town for the month of July, but August i am all in! haha. eta:  I didn't know anything about the issues with mwh and bariatrics, I was banded and it was a brand new program when I went for the consultation.  I am insured by tricare and that's where they sent me!  lol, no choices involved, I am thrilled with my dr and with deanna though so it all worked out well here!

I am sad you will miss our Meet and Greet as it promises to be a lot of fun and we have some surprises up our sleeves.......... I was not around then but I did hear that MWH had a program before and an incompetent doctor and closed the program after some deaths - so pretty hard to recover from that. But Deanna is a nice no-nonsense nutritionist and I like her very much.... Jackie

Hi, I am one of the people that contacted Dr. Stelmack's office twice in the past about the MWH support group. No one at MWH knew anything about it when I called, nor did his office. When they finally knew something, since I had already had my WLS, they never sent me things as promised and were not very open to my attending "their" group. Hopefully this mindset has changed and they will welcome everyone as does the group that Jackie Thodos co chairs in Stafford. Diana

Diana, did you speak with the receptionist there?  she's kind of touch and go, some days she's really nice and other's I want to smack her in the head and give her a V8 because she's obviously lacking some something!  I think being a new program, they are still working out the kinks because they switched insurance coordinators and everything and my surgery was all over the place with last minute requirements, they appologized like crazy and got everything taken care of so we didn't have to move my surgery date, and things seem to be a lot better now as far as organization.  Deanna told me this week that she is going to start sending out a newsletter as well, but that it wouldn't be ready for about two weeks.  So there are a lot of things in the works, but being new seems to be catching up with them.  I hope that you will try and attend a meeting, I would love to meet more people in the area!  I will also let Deanna know that people have called to inquire about it and no one knew anything.  I am sure she will send out some information to all the information areas of MWH.