Northwest Medical Center Hospital

All the WLS patient go to the 6th floor and stay in private rooms. You're given a PCA pump so you can give yourself medication every 8 minutes if you need it. My family and friends were working during the day so they came to visit after 6p, the nurses allowed all of them to stay close to midnight although visiting hrs were until 8p. The nurses were all really sweet, except for my 1st night post-op, the 7p-7a shift. I believe they had made an error in scheduling, because there was one nurse serving my side of the floor, were there's normally 4. She was really stressing. Otherwise, all the other nurses were great and that didn't happen again.

My first meeting with Dr. Wizman was on 7?31/02 and he was great. His staff, particularly Kendra and Leslie have been nothing but helpful and supportive. I know have a surgery date of 9/3/02. Dr. Wizman is very thorough and answers any questions you have. He assures you that he will take the best of care of you and will be there with you every step of the way.

My very first impression of Dr. Wizman when I met him at the resource meeting was oh my goodness, he's so tiny, what can he do. But as he started talking he made me more and more comfortable. After about 30 minutes I got nervous again because at the time he had only done about 22 of these surgeries. I went home and thought about it, then went on the net and researched him, talked to a few of his patients, and the started to feel a little more comfortable. At least I'll be getting more attention and by the time I have it done I was sure he would have done at least double that amount. I haven't had anymore negatives about him since then and I bother him enough that he usually realizes who I am if I call him on the phone to ask about the surgery. He seems, so far like a very open person.
He really recommends aftercare as far as going to support meetings afterwards even if it's not at that hospital, and joining the healthy for life aquatic exercise program at the hospital at least the first 6 weeks (after the 2-4 weeks you need to recover from the surgery of course.
He really focuses on the risks of surgery. At the first consultation in his office he seemed like he was almost trying to talk me out of the surgery. He was quizing me one risks and overall just wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting into.
His personal office staff in his office are ok, I don't deal with them much though. But the staff that work for the bariatric center are very nice, especially Kendra who for one is a real nurse (I believe she was working in the maternity ward), and she had also had the surgery. She's very sweet, compassionate, and keeps up on everything.

My only complaint was the nurseing staff at night. The day staff was great.

Dr Paul Wizman, he was very open honest upfront,caring all the things i was looking for in a surgeon. I met him first at the info session they held, and as soon as he came up to the front to explain the surgery he showed something i hadn't seen in the last 2 surgeon i had seen. HEART!! Nothing was sugarcoated or downplayed. I scheduled my appt for consulation and he was ready to start the fight with insurance as soon as i answered some questions for him. As the process went on with the office he was fighting along side each step of the way.Kendra (nurse pa) and Leslie (office mgr) were the greatest i have had to deal with. No phone call was unreturned. Every question i asked was answered in a timely fashion. updates as to my insurance submission every other day, and no my preop orders and clearences. Dr. Wizman is a man of orders, if you don't follow he makes you know why you should, He is commited to post op care wholeheartedly, you are to have physcial theraphy after surgery and support group meetings and regular theraphy (if needed) proper diet, and excersize and FLUIDS FLUIDS FLUIDS. If i had to pick a sugreon again i wouldn't think twice about Dr Wizman.

MADE MY OVER ALL EXPERIENCE MUCH EASIER.

My doctors name is Dr. Wizman. He is a laporscopic surgeon in Margate, FL. My first visit with him was very exciting but I don't think that my nerves allowed me to absorb everything he said. I called his office staff to find out some things and found them to be somewhat unorganized regarding the bariatric procedure. Dr. Wizman has just been assigned to head up the new Bariatric Surgery Program at Northwest Medical Center and since it is in it's infancy, they have got some more organizing to do. I was concerned enough about this to request that he call me personally. He did call the next day and explained that I was in good hands and that his office staff is trying to get organized in this area. They are very nice but need some structured education. I also asked if there was a local support group and he was sorry to say that there is no support group through the hospital yet because he is just now scheduling surgeries. He asked if I thought I might be interested in being a founder in this area after my surgery.
He was very good about explaining the surgery and even drew me a picture! I get to have one more appointment with him before the surgery so I can ask more questions. I called the hospital and spoke to some nurses and administrators about Dr. Wizman and they all felt he was a very good surgeon. He's very energetic and seems like he has a good bedside manner which is important to me. He is very strong about aftercare and welcomed me as part of his "family" because he said that we will be seeing alot of each other for many years to come. I,m somewhat concerned that he hasn,t done many of these surgeries yet and that even though he is a LAP surgeon, any of his RNY surgeries have been open. I'll be his first attempt at LAP.
The above are my own opinions and are in no way meant to influence anyone in making their own decision.