RE: WISH Center and Valley Medical Center from Dr. Alperovich

Hi all, This is Jennene Dr. Alperovich's nurse. I hope you are all doing well. I want to pass along the following letter from Dr. Alperovich. I hope to see all of you soon. Best Wishes, Jennene Re: Closing of the WISH Center and the creation of the Washington Bariatric & Weight Loss Center at Valley Medical Center All patients of the former WISH Center here in Seattle should by now have received a letter from me. But my staff and I felt it was important also to communicate with you here on obesityhelp.com, because it's such an important resource for bariatric information and support. The year 2006 was a very hard one for the staff of the Renton location of the WISH Center. For a time, the staff, including me, was in a situation without even an office in which to see patients. There were a few months of legal confusion before Valley Medical Center was able to take total control of the medical elements of the program and relaunch these same services under a new name: The Washington Bariatric & Weight Loss Center. As you may know, when initially launching its bariatric program in 2003, Valley Medical Center partnered with The WISH Center Corporation - at that time a pioneer in bariatric surgery and a nationwide program with outstanding success rates. For years, the results of this medical marriage were excellent. VMC's program outshone other regional bariatric providers and even WISH's other national locations, both in terms of numbers of surgeries and positive outcomes for patients. Now, however, that situation has changed, and we believe for the better. By recreating the program, whi*****luded hiring me and other former WISH Center staff, Valley Medical Center was able to continue its excellent bariatric services under its own auspices. These changes have made our program stronger. Valley Medical Center is a public hospital, not a private company, so it's stable. And because we're now 100 percent local, we can focus everything we do right here in this region. I am extremely confident of our program, as I now play an even larger role in making sure it caters to my patients. Multidisciplinary treatment of severe obesity remains our focus. These values and our outstanding patient success stories over the past few years have led to Valley Medical Center being ranked #1 in Washington for bariatric surgery (2007) by healthgrades, a national group that assesses healthcare quality. Please call 425.251.5111 with any questions. My staff and I would be happy to hear from you. Sincerely, C. Gabriel Alperovich, MD Medical Director

Jeannene, I had surgery with Dr. Alperovich In Dec of 04. I have been going to a differant doctor closer to me but I don't feel i'm getting any where. My question is If i Go back to Dr. Alperovich will I have to pay anything more? I paid the Live time support fee and I'm hoping my insurance is still in network and all but I'm scared to do more switching and not get anywere. I am having Nutrition issues and I have an ulcer which I don't know much about. Can you let me know If I should or can switch back to Dr. Alperovich and are you still in the same building? Please let me know as soon as you can Michaelle Harney

Michaelle, I am sorry to hear you have been having problems. We are trying to accommedate patients by honoring what WISH quoted. I would be happy to schedule an appointment for you if you can give me a call. You can reach me directly by calling 425-228-3440 ext 2646. I am in the operating room all day Mondays and Fridays but Norma would also be able to explain how appointments work. Looking forward to hearing from you soon, Jennene

YAY!!! I was just into see Dr Alperovich yesterday--He is TOP NOTCH! He is getting all my records from my providers and actually formulating a "Plan"--how awesome is that? Wish Center Orphans---Call Dr Alperovich--Personally I think this is 100% better than the wish center was.