Park Nicollet Bariatric Surgery Program Bariatric Center

Dr. Jones is very busy, my first appointment being 3-6 months out. However, once I had the initial visit everything was great. His assistant worked me in to schedules to have all the paperwork done, labs, tests, and everything else leading up to surgery.

The initial visit was very informative. I had been researching the operation for about 18 months, so did ask some more detailed questions. He was very responsive and open. He explained the options and the associated risks and benefits of each type of procedure.

His office assistants and nurses are top-notch. 'Hasseling' with the insurance company wasn't. It just wasn't. They took care of everything, appointments were made, follow-ups arranged, bloodwork, everything.

If you are considering Dr. Jones, please start early. His calendar is very busy. That being said, it is worth the wait. He covers everything about the procedures available. He discusses what to expect after from the possible procedures - both positive and negative.

His aftercare program is quite straight-forward. If it hurts, don't do it, and come see me. Actually, the program is very well suited for normal recovery procedures. My personal recovery was a lot out of the ordinary by all accounts, but I still worked within the framework of the aftercare procedures he had in place. I am a bit of a 'techie', so the handouts for online information was welcome.

Overall, Dr. Jones is quite experienced in dealing with the medical issues. He has performed many of the procedures, and in all aspects is very comfortable in discussing issues of the surgery, the aftercare, the 'what to expects', etc. And, more than many other doctors I have visited, he seems to keep your information well in hand - I know he has information written in the chart, but things that are important to the 'deer in the headlights' we all are before doing this, he always seemed to have in his head. To look you in the eye to give an answer rather than shuffle thru the paperwork is great!

My first impression of Dr. Jones was that he was a caring man that loved his work. He was actually excited for me. With his name being Tom Jones I could imagine him standing over me while I am on the operating table singing "What's New Pussycat" However once I met him I was convinced that this would not happen. His office staff is quite competent and very helpful. His nurse Mary Pat is on the ball and returns calls promplty which is a big plus for me. My only real beef was with the the clinic he is through. He is the only one that does this type of surgery and there was a 6 month wait just for the first consultation. I have not had surgery yet so I cannot give an opinion on bedside manner. However I am confident of his surgical competence

I worked with Dr Jones in 1994 for a abdominal heria surgery, so know him pretty well from that. He is a compasionate and conscientious surgeon.

His staff have been very supportive and responsive to my questions.

He can be a bit dry at times, but is overall very personable.

Dr Jones is very professional and gets to business. He is also very very busy.

I don't know about the aftercare program yet.

He was very frank about the risks involved, but when we looked at the alternative of not losing the weight, the risks seemed minimal to me.

Overall, I would recommend Dr Jones to anyone thinking about the surgery, just expect it to take a while to get in to see him.

Bedside manner is important, but I am more concerned with surgical competence.

I have only met with Dr. Jones once so far, but I feel very comfortable with him. He "giggled" at me when I asked many questions about the possible vomiting time frame and the time frame between meals and when I could drink water again. I drink tons of water now. He put me at ease that these feelings and worries will subside once I have surgery. He seems to understand the need I have for this surgery but did answer honestly when I asked him why I would NOT want this surgery. That is when I knew he understood and clicked with my feelings. He answered: 1. if I was unsure, 2. if I like the way things are, obviously not or I wouldn't be here and 3. if I felt there was a better way out there to permanently loose the weight. I also asked him what his opinion was why peole around me are fearful and telling me not to do it. Again his answers clicked with my feelings. He felt it was cuz those people don't have weight problems and don't understand and that it is a drastic measure.

Dr. Jones was very friendly and he would look you in the eyes when I would tell him my story of all the weight loss programs I have been on.
I came out of there feeling secure about his ability to perform the surgery.
They were very friendly and compasionate.

Nothing as of yet.

He is very willing to work around his schedule to meet yours.
He strongly empasizes the importance of aftercare.
Not so much. There is a support group at the hospital and you work with the dietician.
He was very open about it and even told me of the patients that he has lost.
He has been doing the surgery for 15 years and he is very confident about what he does. I would recomend him.
Deffinately both.

Dr. Jones has a wonderful, calming way with his patients! He was very personable, very informative and thorough. He was not rushed or hurried in any way. He gave the impression that he was willing to stay and answer any questions I had for as long as it took (I did not take advantage of this, though!) I have heard wonderful things about his skill as a surgeon, even from my own family doctor who claimed that Dr. Jones would be the surgeon he went to if he needed anything done. I am excited that I am able to get the surgery done with him as he is great at what he does (I've also heard this from at least 4 of his patients). Dr. Jones also does some things differently. For example, he makes the incision (he only does open surgeries at this time) horizontally, a couple of inches below the breast area. I have also heard this makes a big difference in recovery as there are not as many muscles being cut into versus vertical incisions. Dr. Jones does not use an NG tube...which I am VERY excited about considering the horror stories I've heard about those! He does send you home with a G tube. An 'emergency' feeding tube coming out of your incision which he removes after 2 weeks. This is all I know as far as being pre-op. I will go into more detail and describe my personal experience after my surgery. I am VERY pleased with Dr. Jones so far! From what I know so far, he has both surgical competence AND great bedside manner. I highly recommend him.

I first met Dr. Baker at the information meeting. I was
very impressed and looked forward to meeting him and his
staff again.

After my second visit with his staff, I immediatly felt
comfortable and entirely informed.

I consulted with my Primary Care Physician and he was not
comfortable giving me a referral to a Dr. that he was not
familiar with. He then gave me a referral to Dr. Tom Jones.

I met with Dr. Tom Jones on August 10th and was very comfortable
with him. I immediatly liked him and was certain that I was
comfortable having him do my surgery.

I have had the best of both worlds. I met with two competent
and excellent surgeons but decided to go with Dr. Jones
because he was in my network, my insurance would cover the
entire procedure instead of the 80% that it would cover if I went
out of my network, plus I would be having the surgery in the same hospital
where I had my son two years ago.

Both Dr.'s were excellent but I chose the one that was right
for me financially and in a closer proximity to where I live.

Dr. Jones was very good about explaining to me everything he had to do and why.
He's very professional and likeable.
His Nurse is so helpful and will answer questions or find out if she doesn't know. I've yet to hear her say she doesn't know though.
He explained what I needed to do when I got home. The low grade fever is the only thing that I didn't expect to last so long. As well as the pain from the gas used during the laproscopic procedure. I didn't know the gas pains would be so bad. I also would have benefitted from a girdle type waist band to support my lower abdominal area. It is quite bruised right now.
He did explain the risks.
I feel Dr. Jones is THE best Bariatric surgeron in the Twin Cities area.
Both are great. My husband enjoyed his talk after my surgery.