TLBC Clinic- Toronto, Ontario, Canada

[Doddie63 6]

[tango 0]

i wonder if others are as upset as i am about the post operative care at TLBC i know many people are from the conversations in the waiting room. I would like to get a letter signed by a number of us expressing how the changes they are making in the clinic since they became Slimband is not resulting in better care or results for us patients. Let me know if you feel the same

[jorja78 0]

hold that thought. It is great to have a site that we are not blacklisted because we have a moment of anger, frustation and post something that is inappropriate. I don't mind being corrected provided I am told why but I still hold dear the concept of "freedom of speech".

Doddie..I am still so thankful for your support during my "rant" along with a couple others who helped me feel better and just let me blow some steam off . I couldnt just talk to anyone about this lapband because i didnt want anyone to know who was around me so I vented here. So I will always lend a sympathetic ear to anyone else who is in my position . Funny -when you take away the food that helps you cope with stress you are feeling pretty vulnerable and agitated until you learn how to deal with it.

I love this website for all the wonderful people and support and i want to say thanks again!!

:thumbup::thumbup::eek::thumbup::smile::thumbup::w00t::thumbup::thumbup:

[susieq321 31]

i wonder if others are as upset as i am about the post operative care at TLBC i know many people are from the conversations in the waiting room. I would like to get a letter signed by a number of us expressing how the changes they are making in the clinic since they became Slimband is not resulting in better care or results for us patients. Let me know if you feel the same

Tango,

I don't agree with you but I empathize with you, if you feel you are not getting what is promised starting a petition is not a bad idea. Working in the business arena and for many years with clients and customers my advice is

a) write down exactly what you think the issues are so what were you promised that you are not getting personally I haven't been promised anything that isn't available. But truly spell it out, if you think the post op care is missing something and you were promised that with others write it out be specific and really anything promised should be in writing, make sure it was a promise and not a rumour you heard from another patient.

:thumbup: do not do this as an internet petition have individuals write out their letters addressing what their own issues are real people who are real clients of the clinic. Each person will have different experiences and what their issues are may be vastly different from yours.

c) Make sure the letters come from real clients with real names so the clinic can address those clients. Since it is a medical practice you can collect the letters but there is no possible way that anyone from the clinic can address anything about me as a patient with you they can't even acknowledge I am a patient to you. So the letters can be given as a collective whole but really they will need to be addressed individually to the person who has the issue. I think there are a lot of trolls on the net who like to stir up trouble and a lot of people who have some issues but aren't willing to take the time to address them by doing something like writing a letter, make this a serious effort to produce the results you want.

d) make an appt with the mgmt of the clinic and present the letters after ensuring the people are real patients of the clinic. There would be nothing worse than presenting a bunch of letters to find out a majority of them were not written by real patients. But present the letters along with a summary of the most common issues and ask them to address the issues as a whole and to the individuals.

Me I have no issues with the clinic Slimband has always been great with me, I like the staff, I have no issues getting fills with my travel schedule, I have never been promised something that wasn't delivered on time and correctly. I have had one problem and I addressed it and as far as I know it was taken care of in house. But I have found in the past dealing with companies the most effective way to resolve issues is to put things in writing making sure they are well written, concise and well presented, don't make it a bitch session that you don't like what you hear or read from others, make sure your issues are legitimate issues and only write about your issues not your friends. They can't address what is happening to others with you, only your real issues and what has happened to you.

Good luck

Heather

[Doddie63 6]

One of my concerns is the local residents have access to a psychologist (so the event calendar indicates) but we don't. As tango indicated if she had access to some mentoring on how to deal with frustrations and stress without the use of food, the situations may have been handled better. Many people spend their life savings or go into debt to have the band so can't afford private sessions. When Slimband have such an individual available to some clients the effort should be made to make it available to all. And yes, I have expressed this opinion to them.

[susieq321 31]

One of my concerns is the local residents have access to a psychologist (so the event calendar indicates) but we don't. As tango indicated if she had access to some mentoring on how to deal with frustrations and stress without the use of food, the situations may have been handled better. Many people spend their life savings or go into debt to have the band so can't afford private sessions. When Slimband have such an individual available to some clients the effort should be made to make it available to all. And yes, I have expressed this opinion to them.

Doddie,

Dr Barry Simon does group sessions and I know people who are going to those sessions and really enjoying them. But I have never heard of them promising one on one sessions with him or anyone else, but then again everyone has a different meeting. I have a friend who has done at least two of the Dr Simon sessions and I know she has found them valuable to her and her eating issues. He deals only with obese patients and weight loss as a specialists POV. I wish the sessions were available online but even then the odds are with my schedule I wouldn't be able to make it. I have asked for them to be added to podcasts but no one promised it to me, so it is hope rather than anything else.

Heather

[Doddie63 6]

I did not intend nor imply a one on one session. What I was suggesting that if this doctor can hold support sessions once a month for a group at the clinic so should he hold support sessions for long distance patients by conference calls. It seems that long distance patients' money is taken for support services but they are rarely provided. And I don't need the comments that I should have realized that at the time because frankly I was looking for the best doctor and the literature they put out satisfied me as to support. However in real life it never materialized.

[susieq321 31]

I did not intend nor imply a one on one session. What I was suggesting that if this doctor can hold support sessions once a month for a group at the clinic so should he hold support sessions for long distance patients by conference calls. It seems that long distance patients' money is taken for support services but they are rarely provided. And I don't need the comments that I should have realized that at the time because frankly I was looking for the best doctor and the literature they put out satisfied me as to support. However in real life it never materialized.

Doddie,

Sorry it wasn't clear in your first post you were looking for the distance sessions. I agree with you it shouldn't be too hard to put on a conference call or webcast. I will caveat the conference call with this though.. I spend 8-10 hours a day on the phone for my job and if I didn't multitask I would never get real work done. With that said... multitasking on a call like Dr Simon's would never work and the reason they may not offer it is that in the past when they offered things like call ins, or chat sessions they haven't been taken seriously or taken advantage of by the patients and it hasn't been worth the investment the clinic made since people say they will show and no one does so they end up paying for a resource to do something and no one uses it.

I talked to Dr Yau about it a few years ago this was before the clinic had a full time nutritionist and they brought one in who did conference calls and set aside time for patients and people would make appts and never show, the same for the calls people would confirm and never show for the calls. Based on that they stop offering some of those options because they were wasting money on them that experience has to weight heavy on them when they start offering new programs that cost them money to host.

But overall a podcast should be simple, much less interactive but not hard to arrange and post for downloading.

Heather

[Doddie63 6]

Heather I was part of that telephone conference call. There were 7 of us and more indicating they wanted to take part. Unfortunately the young girl who set up the calls was very disorganized and failed us miserably. Shortly after she went to Alberta and intended to continue but that never materialized either. What she had difficulty with was the time zones and notifying all of us. There was a great deal of difficulty as well with the connections. The last attempt she made, nobody came on line and she cancelled the sessions. That last session was around Christmas time and I was never notified of the time nor if I recall were two or three others. The rest were away with family. Also, she wasn't very knowledgeable about counselling. She was a young bandster like the rest of us. She had no education as a thearapist. The dismal failure was not the fault of the clients.

[susieq321 31]

Heather I was part of that telephone conference call. There were 7 of us and more indicating they wanted to take part. Unfortunately the young girl who set up the calls was very disorganized and failed us miserably. Shortly after she went to Alberta and intended to continue but that never materialized either. What she had difficulty with was the time zones and notifying all of us. There was a great deal of difficulty as well with the connections. The last attempt she made, nobody came on line and she cancelled the sessions. That last session was around Christmas time and I was never notified of the time nor if I recall were two or three others. The rest were away with family. Also, she wasn't very knowledgeable about counselling. She was a young bandster like the rest of us. She had no education as a thearapist. The dismal failure was not the fault of the clients.

Doddie,

Actually the incidents I was talking about happened long before you were a bandster.... but they were offering different things in different formats and whether they were conferences or face to face the clinic would set it up, people would confirm and never show up.. so one of the reasons they stopped them was it was wasting their money at the time because regardless if someone showed up for the call or meeting the Docs were paying for the nutritionist etc. I haven't done a teleconference so I can't speak for my experience I can speak about the conversation I had with Dr Yau and why they stopped offering some of the services that they offered at the beginning.

Heather

[Doddie63 6]

Well these are old wounds and I don't wish to revisit them suffice to say, I was led to believe that support was part of the $16000 along with life time fills/deffils and any emergency to the band. In those days we didn't get anything in writing. If I had to do this all over again, I would in a flash, but I would ask for a written cntract. Slimband has a long way to go to catch up with SWL when it comes to suport.

Now if you wish to continue this discussion I suggest we go private, because we seem to be the only two mainly on this link.

[SandyBella 0]

This is off topic but does anyone know where to find Wasa Rye bread in Ontario or even Canada? I can't find it anywhere.

Thanks

[susieq321 31]

This is off topic but does anyone know where to find Wasa Rye bread in Ontario or even Canada? I can't find it anywhere.

Thanks

I know whole foods in the US carries it, try a deli they usually have some of the european items.

Heather

[Hanbe 3]

SandyBella try Longo's and if you can't find Wasa try Viykta rye crackers they are similar and taste great.

I have eliminated wheat products from my diet along with gluton and enriched sugar products and I can't believe how much better I feel! I have lost 4 pounds in the first week doing this and I have so much more energy and my stomach has lost so much of regular bloating that I have. I totally recommend doing this even as just a cleanse! If anyone needs recipes or food suggestions just drop me an email!

Enjoy the sunshine everyone!