Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute Bariatric Center

First of all I am loosing wt. The whole process takes about 9 months before you get to surgery. I have to say I was very excited to get started. Then had a very bad experience in hospital. The staff in recovery are not with their program , they were rude and abusive. I woke up early in recovery, and things went from bad to worse with staff.
The Surgeon is awesome. However the statement of you get assigned a person to help you thru all testing and process is not true. I was given someone, who never called me back. Tried 6 times in 11 mo to get answers to any questions. Had to find my way around that by calling other numbers and sending my chart messages and waiting for reply . Even now when I have a question on diet it is a 4 week wait to take to anyone. The booklet helps,, but when you have no one to talk to for 4+ weeks and a simple question it is hard. You are really on your own. Be prepared.

Wait, wait, wait. Returned e-mails? Called you back? I feel like I was at a different place than everyone else! Very disappointed with the Cleveland Clinic. Went through pre-surgery process- insurance requirements, 6 months of NUT visits, all pre-surgery testing (EKG, ultrasound, etc). After my last NUT visit, that's pretty much the last I heard from them. I acutally just found out that my insurance company approved the surgery...FROM the insurance company. Four months after fulfilling all of the requirements.

My surgeon is Walter Cha however he is now in Cleveland Ohio at MetroHealth Hospital.rnMy doc is absolutely wonderful - he is quiet and reserved however very informative. As time goes on, I think better of him - he has never made me feel like a \"big\" person only a person who needs his assistance and he will do what he can to help.rnHis staff is pleasant however it is a typical clinical setting because it is a larger hospital however I have not had any problems w/wait time or attitude.rnAs a whole, I would rate him as a 8 or 9 (I never rate 100% because everyone needs room for improvement).rnThe nursing staff who took care of me immediately after the surgery said I had one of the best surgeons for RNY and that he has relatively good outcomes from what they have witnessed.rnAt first, when he visited me - he was very short and to the point and didn't seem very friendly however as I thought about it - he was on surgical rounds and is very busy - when I visit him in his office, he is very personable.

Dr. Cha (now at MetroHealth in Cleveland, OH) is very approachable, and very kind. He explainded things very well but didn't dumb anything down. He addressed all of the risks and he really emphasized that this surgery is not a cure. He made sure I understood that I have a lot to do with the outcome and that I need to work hard following the post-op instructions to the letter or things will not go well. As a nurse, I know he is surgically competent and as a patient, I like his bedside manner. rnrnMy surgery went great and Dr. Cha was wonderful! I have nothing but good things to say about him. The other surgeon that worked with him was Dr. Claridge and he was wonderful as well! I had a great team!!

'Dr. Cha performed my gastric bypass surgery on June 1

'I just love Dr. Cha. I am so sorry to see that he is going to be leaving Crozer. If anyone in Ohio is looking into WLS

My 1st impression of Dr. Cha was oh my gosh this little man will we working on big ol me. With time however, I got to know him better and felt very comfortable and safe under his care. His office staff was very proffessional, helpful, and knowledgeable. Future patients should know that Dr. Cha may be Little in stature but he is very big on the quality of care for his patients. He definetly emphasizes that surgery is only the beginning and in order to be succesful you must use the tools of eating right and exercising regularly. Dr. Cha was very upront and honest about the possible risks of surgery. I would definetely rate Dr. Cha a perfect ten overall for his surgical competence and bedside manner. These are my own opinions of Dr. Cha of my experience with him and his staff.

Dr. Walter Cha is a very wonderful surgeon. He does his job very well and has a wonderful be side manner. I would refer anyone in Delaware Co. who is looking for a wls physician to go to Crozer Chester Medical Center and look him up.

Just had my first consultation with Dr. Cha. He was very thorough in describing different procedures and options - even ones he does not perform. He is a fairly serious person - doesn't crack a smile much. But that is fine with me. His office staff seems quite pleasant and competent. I'll let you more as I move along the process.

I will have 2 surgeons with lap bypass.
Very nice and helpful
I think both surgeons are nice
The office staff is nice and very helpful
Because I had done research for over a year on surgery the doctor seems odd because I knew everything without him having to explain.
That they are very competaint
Very much emphasize on aftercare
Yes
They are both great with explaining the risks of surgery and because I have small children they wanted to make sure I understood the risks of having the surgery.
I would rate them both Dr. Cha & Dr. Neff as being very understrand, explains everything in great detail and very nice.
I think that surgical competence would be the main thing you should look for in a surgeon, how many he has done and what % of the ones done were sucessful. A bedside manner would of course help but not necessary in my opionion. But both my surgeons are extremely pleasant. Because I have 4 children the youngest being only 3 and being a single parent I need to make arrangements for them ahead of time so not having a date to work around is very stressing. Hopefully they will have one for me this week. God willing Great I have a Date.