Gastric Band Institute Bariatric Center

Dr. Fromm is an excellent surgeon. I knew from the first seminar on the surgery that he was the one I wanted to do mine. He has a great bedside manner. His office staff is great. They are alway willing to help with any need. Dr. Fromm and his nurse stressed the aftercare and all the risks. In fact his nurse has had the surgery, she looks great. They have a support group for surgeries under 6 months and another that is more than 6 months, those are once a month. They also have a nutrition class every week. Sometimes they have speakers come in as well. They had a "walk for obesity" last year too. I highly recommend his office and any of the doctors that are in with him. The name of the office is gastric band institute.

Dr. Ponce is so nice. He listened to everything I had to say. He was very informative and answered all of my questions with ease. His staff is also wonderful.

Dr. Ponce has those "sleepy-looking" eyes. You know, the kind of eyes that sort of droop a bit at the outer corners. That was the first thing I noticed about him. After talking with him and his assistants at Hamilton, I felt much more comfortable about the decision to have Lap Band. He heavily emphasized that I would have a HUGE lifestyle change after surgery, and that the follow-up visits are vital for optimum success. He truly seems to care about me in that he really wants to keep me from developing the family history problems my Mom already has from being obese: high blood pressure, diabetes, heart trouble, diabetic neuropathy, etc. Not once did I get the impression that he doesn't care about the patients who are under his supervision.

first inpressions Dr. Ponce are excelant he is very profesional. He took the time to answer all the questions that I had. His office is very nice they have large chairs with no arms so i was able to sit very comfortably. He does put a whole lot of emphasize on after care especialy changing the eating habbits.

He was very nice and personable. He took his time and explained things to me. He answered all my questions and had a sincere intrest in me and my weight loss.

Everyone in his staff is very nice and friendly.

Had surgical consult at Memorial in Chattanooga on October 12th, 2004. They had me watch a video first and then I met with Dr. Ponce. He took his time, answered all my questions.

November 8th - returned to Chattanooga for psych consult and pre-op education they do with nutritionist, excercise physiologist, and psychologist.

Feb 25, 2005 - Insurance tells me I've been approved since Feb 2 but no call from Memorial - what's up with that???!!!

March 4th - Got my surgery date - April 14th. Could possibly have scheduled it sooner, I needed to wait until after some due date at work.

check out www.daltonsurgical.com

My doctor is Dr. Steven Paynter. He is very personable, is willing to listen, always lets you get all your questions answered. I never felt rushed. I felt as though I was his only patient.
The web-site can give you more about his education and knowledge on the Lap-Band.
His office has done over 1200 maybe more by now.
He has a staff dedicated to the "Lap Band Procedure" only. That is all they do. It is called Hamilton Weight Mangement.
www.hamiltonhealth.com
He took a long time to explain all about the surgery risks, complications, ect....
He did surgery on me in December 2004, afterwords, my family, the nurse, my preacher, and Dr. Paynter all held hands and thanked the Lord for the success of the surgery.
I am so very pleased in my decision.
My surgery is Feb. 23rd.

Dr Fromm was very professional and seemed to care alot about me.. Right after my surgery Dr Fromm and Dr Ponce were there to make sure i was ok...

Professional, informative, dedicated. My impression of Dr. Ponce over the several months has only reinforced my initial impression. His office staff are personal, helpful.

Aftercare is in structured office visits, then montly support groups, weekly support groups.

I would rate Dr. Ponce and his staff and hospital experience (8/10)

My only concern is their time is more stretched because of the number of individuals having the surgery, thus many more needing post -op attention for support and band adjustments

Dr. Ponce appears to be a well trained and experienced surgeon. His demeanor is kind and caring. His office is pleasant. Staff members have been kind and accomodating. Office wait time was unacceptable a time or two, however, on two occasions I had no wait time at all.
Cost of surgery by Dr. Ponce seems to be about $4000.00 more than some US doctors. Pre-op activities did not go as smoothly as expected and caused much stress for me prior to the surgery, but that had nothing to do with Dr. Ponce or his staff.
Aftercare program is great. I have no regrets about choosing Hamilton Medical Surgical Weight Loss Center and Dr. Ponce.