Brandon Regional Medical Center Hospital

First impression of Dr Chebli?? I LOVED HIM!! He is down to earth and treated me like a person and not a number. He gave me information in a freindly yet proffessional manner. Plus it doesn't hurt that he loves Alaska so much :)
The staff has been friendly and whenever I called or had a question they were there to help me and get any information I needed. Samantha is very effecient. My first visit was in July 2010 she had my paperwork submitted and final and surgery date completed in only 3 months time!! Now I am ready for surgery October 20, 2010! They gave me a list of things I Had to do to prepare and get ready and I had them done in about 2 months. They made it so smooth for me and I am in Alaska they are in Seattle, my different docotrs here would send them the procedures I had completed. Luckly I had been seeing a licensed nutritionist since April so this was documented to help show I had at least 6 month medical approval that I was seeking help in othere ways. This is not counting all the other diets and medical help I was able to provide from the past.
Dr Chebli has a wonderful web site and it is direct and easy to follow. He gives you insight on what you will be going through and the before and after care. What impressed me the most is that he has been chosen for the last 4 to 5 years as Washington States pick of TOP 100 doctors. This is a poll taken from other proffessional physicians that would choose him to perform surgery on one of their loved ones. Now that tells me a lot and gave me great comfort. One of the main reasons I picked him too. When i met him I could see why. he made me feel at ease and just helped me understand how important my health is for not just me but my loved ones as well. He gave me a binder that I took home and followed all the things I needed to do to get to my surgery date. He has alot of information in this binder but the website gives you even more. The website and the bionder gives you before and after care and propgrams. They are open to any questions whether you feel like they are trival or not.
Dr Chebli has worked on several paitents from Alaska and other states as well so he and his staff are very efficiant I believe because of working with paitents out of state. He gave me all the risks of the surgery and the restricions I will have. My thought on that is, I have been restricted from so many things in life that eating restrictions is far less of a problem for me than what I have had to go through with clothes, seating, walking, exercising, and just overall living life to the fullest.
One of the things the staff did too was they even helped me pick a hotel for us to stay at. I am going to tell the Hotel when I go so they realize Dr Chebli's office tell their out of state patients about their hotel. It is the Nexxus Hotel walking distance to the hospital.
If I were to rate Dr. Chebli and his staff I would rate them off the chart!!
The question of which is better surgical competence or bedside manner? I would have to say Dr Chebli shows that he has both so far. I will know more whan I have my surgery in a few days. But I am confident I am going to be able to say he does have both!

Do I have any negative comments? Well, the only thing negative on my part is that I do not live closer. I have been to other doctors here in my state that do this surgery and I can honestly say I wouldn't even compare them to Dr Chebli.

Thank you for letting me share :)
Rebecca White

Everything was excellent about the hospital and staff. Would recommend.

Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy 3/17/10

With a procedure as life changing as this, I spent three years learning all I could about my options, my surgeon, and myself before moving forward with surgery.

I attended an informational seminar in 2007, which was hosted by Dr. Joseph Chebli on the Northwest Hospital Campus (Seattle, WA). My first impression was that he seemed very confident, and over the course of the next few years there was one line from that seminar that stuck with me. During the talk he discussed things like how to pick a surgeon and when referring to the fact that a doctor might have done many weight loss surgeries, but are not up on the more current methods and training he said(paraphrasing), "just because we CAN, does not mean we SHOULD".
I left there really feeling that he had the patients best interest at heart, no matter who did the procedure.
Within a few weeks I visited his office and was very sure that I wanted to have a Lap-band installed. His demeanor at first was VERY professional, and not really personalized. But I understood he consults with many patients and all of the beginning "leg work" is just very straightforward. YOU the patient, have to take home the binder and decide if this the path you want to take. He is not there to make this decision for you. He did let me know statistics for success were low with the Lap-band, especially with my BMI being so high. Long story short, I lost the required 5%+ and tricked myself into thinking that I could lose the rest of the weight on my own, and cancelled the surgery.

Fast forward two years, and all the studies I had been keeping up on showed that Dr. Chebli was correct. The Lap-band was not getting the results I would have expected. I went back with him and discussed the Lap RNY, a procedure that I really did NOT want - but after gaining back the 5% and then some, I knew I could not do this on my own. We did discuss the Sleeve, but my insurance did not cover it and I could not afford the procedure on my own. Again my visit with him was very quick and he was just straightforward and professional. During these few years I consulted with him, Dr. Chebli had also consistently ended up on Seattle Magazine's TOP DOCTOR list for his excellence in bariatric surgery. This was another reinforcement that gave me assurance in his ability.

After scheduling a surgery date for the Lap RNY procedure, I cancelled again. My fiance' abruptly passed away and I had to sort out how I was going to move forward with just myself and my three year old son, alone. Then three months later, I unexpectedly lost one of my brothers.

Fast forward three more months to Feb 2010, add an additional whopping 60lbs to my short frame, and I found myself just walking into Dr. Chebli's office unannounced. Samantha let me go in and stand on the scale. Speaking with her was truly a moment in which I will never forget. I think I will always consider her one of the people who helped "save" me, so to speak. From that point on, she personally helped to make sure all my records, insurance approvals, and tests were in place so that I could restart the surgery process. In a miraculous change, my insurance company had begun covering the Sleeve procedure. This is a medical procedure we are talking about, but I surely took that as another sign that this was the "right" time to embark on this journey.

On March 17th, 2010 when Dr. Chebli came in to see me before surgery, I knew instantly that he was MY surgeon and was going to make sure everything went smoothly. I truly saw the switch from just a consulting physician to my personal surgeon. I followed all his rules for success and made a huge commitment to have him perform this procedure and in return, I know first hand that he is invested in my long term success. From the excellent aftercare in the hospital, to the follow up visits, and at home call back when I had questions, I cannot be any more pleased with my decision in choosing Dr. Chebli for my VSG procedure.

First Impression is the Dr. Chebli is a very direct and honest Dr. He really was understanding of where I am at in the process and what I needed to know. I am very excited to move on in this journey.

So now that my surgery is said and done, I can honestly say that Dr. Chebli is the BEST!! He even came to the hospital at 9:30pm on a Sat the day after my surgery when I was having some lung issues and stayed until he knew I was okay. Very impressed. He is very specific with directions for your aftercare.

Both his Surgical skills and bedside minor were tops!

He came highly recommended by a good friend. He seems to be very confident in his abilities and his staff is on the ball. I visited with them in the fall of 2007 and had a phone call from Margaret Dec. 2008. Turns out I had just started a new insurance, and she called and found out it was a covered benefit under my plan...rn Now that I have had my surgery, with no complecations to date, I am even more happy with my decision to choose Dr. Chebli and his staff. He has a wonderfull bedside manner, and is very good at what he does.

Dr Chebli's first impression was.. iffy. He came off as arrogant and a little too confident. He's from the east coast, and it shows. So at the initial seminar, I wasn't so sure about him. But thru the process of pre-op/surgery/post-op, I found he's also very gentle, a good listener, funny, and so understanding. So don't let that first impression turn you off. He's confident because he knows what he's doing, not because he's a jerk.

His office staff has been really helpful and friendly, even when putting up with the red tape my job and insurance company put them thru. I do wish he had someone on staff that had had surgery themselves, but I don't think he does. They're not skinny minnies tho, and I never felt like they were judging me at all.

Dr Chebli makes sure you're aware of all the risks and chances of surgery. In that no-nonsense way of his, he makes it very clear that there's some problems you can have and that it's not all roses having this surgery. He gives you all the odds and numbers very plainly. I appreciated that straight forward approach. I wanted to know what I was getting myself into, even tho it scared the heck out of me.

Most importantly, Dr Chebli takes a much longer and more cautious approach to everything. It's aggravating at first, seeing others who didn't have to jump thru all the hoops that Dr Chebli requires. His methodical ways turned out to be potentially life saving for me tho. From an off handed remark I made about a family member, his instincts led him to run a special test on me that wouldn't normally be used. This revealed a genetic blood disorder (Factor V Leiden) I didn't know I had, and that could have been deadly. Thanks to Dr Chebli's instincts and methodical ways, my surgery and recovery were complication free.

Dr Chebli has been rated "Best In Seattle" 3 years in a row for a reason. I would trust my life to him again any day, as well as the lives of all those I love. Yes, he requires a LOT more pre-op testing, and his schedule to return to solid food post-op is very long (8 weeks). But it's worth it. This guy is awesome!

Dr. Chebli is great. I felt very comfortable at our first meeting. I had done a little research on him before my initial appointment. We talked about an hour and he provided me with a notebook with information on the different surgeries, what I will need to do prior and after surgery and his website gives more information.

He is very caring and honest. His staff is very nice and helpful. At this point I can't say anything bad about him.

My first impression of Dr. Chebli was really good, I had already read and heard about him. My impression of Dr.Chebli is that he wants his patients to be well informed. When I first went to see him, I had made up my mind that I wanted to be 'Banded', and when I left, we were putting in our paperwork to my insurance company for the Sleeve. I thought I had done a lot of research, but the first time I heard about the Sleeve was in Dr. Chebli's office. I am SO glad he talked to me about it. As it is, I ended up having the Sleeve surgery and man has it worked! I knew that if I listened to what doc told me and followed through on my side that I would reach my goals. By the way, I had surgery Jan. 27th, and I have lost 161 lbs in 6 months. I would say doc knows what he is talking about.rnI love the office staff, they know me by name and are always very supportive. Lisa is really a nice gal and always has time to talk. rnTo be objective, I have been trying to think of something I dislike about Dr. Chebli's office, and I suppose the worst thing is his office wont validate. :)rnFuture patients should be ready to work with the doc and his staff, there is no magic pill, you have to want this, and want a partner to help you through this. Doc wont sugar coat anything, and he will tell you that you have to work at it, but IT WORKS! I have gone from a size 53 waist to a 34, again in 6 months. rnThere is no 'aftercare', it is life care with Dr.Chebli's office. They made that very clear to me...they were not going anywhere just because I have surgery and lose weight, they will be involved in my life for..well, the rest of my life. I don't feel like another customer, I feel like they care for life. rnHey, I educated myself, and Dr. Chebli told me everything I needed to know about the risks of surgery, I never felt stressed out by them in the least, after all, I was already slowly dieing. rnNot only do I rate doc Chebli very highly, I went back to him 5 months later to do my hernia surgery..if thats not trust, tell me what is. rnTo me, its a no brainer..surgical competence is the most important thing to me.

My first impression of Dr Chebli was, he must know his business because he is very confident about what he does... After my initial vist I knew that I wanted him to be my surgeon. I had been doing research for several years and he made me feel comfortable. If you are looking for a surgeon that is very impressive he is the one. He has been there to consult me with even the simpliest questions when I need him. His bedside manner is great and his competence is excellent.