Hi All--

I'm going to head to a seminar to maybe get started on the process. I have two options: Park Nicollet and HealthEast. Both have very good reputations. Any Minneapolis-St. Paul folks care to weigh in on their experiences? Park Nicollet is in the health system I get my care from (HealthPartners), but my primary doctor really likes one of the surgeons at HealthEast, despite referring me to Park Nicollet because it's in-system. The cost to me is the same.

FWIW, I got a better vibe about HealthEast, but that's just based on the two websites.. I'm going to go to their seminar on Feb 5 I think.

Anyone have opinions?

Thanks!

Park Nicollet's Bariatric center of excellence in St. Louis Park is where I went through this process. They are phenomenal!

They have a well rounded program and their after care program is excellent!

Also their pre op program and the amount of information you receive once you start the process is excellent as well.

You can go on line and take their course but I would also recommend going to an in person orientation given by the nursing team.

I especially love that several of the nurses in that dept. have had Bariatric surgery themselves and have been very successful, Dorothy is my favorite and will bend over backwards to help you with questions.

Also, they have a special wing in Methodist hospital that is set up just for Bariatric surgeries. You actually get a private room that is more like a suite.

I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking to go through this process.

Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to reach out!

I went through HealthEast. I thought their program was thorough and very well organized. All of the staff are friendly, courteous and helpful.

The Psychiarist I saw affiliated with their program was actually rather humorous, made my psych eval fun. It is also a Center of Excellence. My surgeon came highly recommended by my primary Dr., she used him for a delicate thyroid surgery.

My hospital stay was great, I was well tended by staff. The rooms are beautiful, private, private bath. Husband was well informed during surgery.

I had no painful gas following surgery, no complications, minimal pain. I did have pretty significant nausea which I expected as I am always nauseous after general anesthesia, the Anesthetist tried to mitigate that the best he could but I still was nauseous.

As you can tell I was very satisfied with my experience at HealthEast.

After reading about her experience above @@Djmohr had a good experience at Park Nicollet too. Two great choices!

@@borg/assimilated & @@Djmohr Thanks so much for your feedback! Sounds like both programs are evenly matched, which is what I suspected.

I went through Park Nicollet for my RNY and was overall happy with the experience. One drawback for me was that they were down to a single surgeon, Dr. Jones, for a few months and this drastically slowed down the process. I called to make my initial appointment in late April, didn't have my first appointment until the end of June. My surgery was submitted to insurance on September 6th, didn't get my pre-surgery consult until October28th, and my surgery not until December 12th. However, the end of the year is really busy surgery-wise due to everyone wanting to get their claims in before the end of the year. Dr. Jones was great and actually did my surgery on a Saturday for that very reason. They have since hired a new surgeon (who is also great by the way, I met him on rounds while I was in the hospital post-op) and I would expect the process to be back up to a more reasonable speed by now.

Other than that my experience has been great. The bariatric nurses you see have all been through the surgery and know what you're going through. The patient materials you get are very thorough and explain their approach to the process step by step. All of your appointments are at the Meadowbrook building attached to Methodist Hospital so it's all convenient.

My surgery and hospital stay went well. The OR staff were fabulous and went out of their way to make me feel comfortable. Methodist has nearly all private rooms now, and mine was at the end of the hall so it was pretty quiet. They all took good care of me.