I only caught the tail end of it, but Khaliah Ali was on CBC radio this morning talking about lap banding. She was very articulate and impressive.

Then right after, my husband told me she was on CTV, Canada AM. Again, I only caught the last bit. One of the things she said at the very end was, "you have the best clinic in Canada right here in Toronto - Tom's clinic". Was she referring to CIBO?

thanks for the heads up... maybe they will rebroadcast.. maybe she is making the rounds today!

I only caught the tail end of it, but Khaliah Ali was on CBC radio this morning talking about lap banding. She was very articulate and impressive.

Then right after, my husband told me she was on CTV, Canada AM. Again, I only caught the last bit. One of the things she said at the very end was, "you have the best clinic in Canada right here in Toronto - Tom's clinic". Was she referring to CIBO?

hmmmmm... Innamed brought her in for Tom's clinic which makes me wonder... why didn't they bring her in for SWLC's conference they are established with a lot of patients.... are they really that shallow that now they have SWLC locked into a contract for only Innamed bands that they don't care about the clinic anymore and want to seal up the east end business only now...

And interesting if she is slamming the other clinics by saying Toms is the best wonder how the other Innamed clinics will feel about that one.... I don't see how a clinic that has done 10 bands personally can be the best of anything I think I will stick to my tried and true

Heather

hmmmmm... Innamed brought her in for Tom's clinic which makes me wonder... why didn't they bring her in for SWLC's conference they are established with a lot of patients.... are they really that shallow that now they have SWLC locked into a contract for only Innamed bands that they don't care about the clinic anymore and want to seal up the east end business only now...

And interesting if she is slamming the other clinics by saying Toms is the best wonder how the other Innamed clinics will feel about that one.... I don't see how a clinic that has done 10 bands personally can be the best of anything I think I will stick to my tried and true

Heather

How do you know this fellow "Tom" is affiliated with CIBO? I thought there was a Tom who was a business manager at TLBC. I didn't hear the CBC report.

Tom is with CIBO and she was referring to him since she is the guest speaker at his open house this weekend. That's the only clinic she has been to so rather biased to say it's the best in the country when she's not visited the others that use the same band. Also she is a spokesperson for Inamed not a medical personnel so her opinion means very little. She is in Toronto to promote CIBO and nothing more. They had to bring in a celebrity to speak for them to try and get their clinic on the map.

How do you know this fellow "Tom" is affiliated with CIBO? I thought there was a Tom who was a business manager at TLBC. I didn't hear the CBC report.

TLBC offers innamed bands if the patient asks for them or if they feel they are the best choice for the patient, but they find that there are more complications with the innamed bands and the company doesn't offer them the support that other banding companies offer. (I know this first hand from all my complications Innamed was a bitch to deal with and I am so glad they are not my band manufacturer, and yes I talked directly to them as well as the supplier and my surgeon)

And I know Ali was in Toronto in affiliation with CIBO they were advertising it and Tom while banded at TLBC is one of the guys who founded CIBO it says so on their website. And CIBO only offers Innamed bands as far as I know I could be wrong.

TLBC has a man named Don who is the CFO and before Don was Chris... there could be a Tom there that I don't know of, I am never ever there for any reason, I just know their staff through the functions they hold. There is a Bobby and as far as I know the rest of the staff is mostly females.

I am still wondering how the other Innamed clinics who are in the metro area will feel about her claim that Tom's is the best.

That is why I am pretty sure the clinic is CIBO.. they were advertising Ali was coming in to talk at their conference.

Heather

ohh and I didn't see any of the reports and they aren't on the website I am in the US currently just what I read on here.... but I think making a claim like that is not so hot for all the other innamed clinics.

H

You can watch the interview from Canada AM here:

http://esi.ctv.ca/datafeed/urlgen2.aspx?vid=50289

You can watch the interview from Canada AM here:

http://esi.ctv.ca/datafeed/urlgen2.aspx?vid=50289

Alex,

Thank you very much.... I think it is funny she never mentions CIBO only Tom.... but still insulting to the other innamed clinics who have been around built surgerical suites etc...

Tom bought her to speak so highly of his clinic. She's here on her own not on behalf of Inamed. Her opinion is so contradictory considering in one breath she says she has never been to another clinic then in the next breath, she says it's the best clinic in Canada. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the inaccuracies in her comments.

Unfortuantely, she has the clinic's name out in public view and that is all some chose to see. They don't go past the ad and check into other clinics which is dangerous. Did she go into any after care policy? Also, I don't see how someone who has been banded at one clinic has the knowledge to state the clinic they are now affiliated with is the best. We all can choose to say "our hockey team is the best" even though they never make the playoffs, or "my doctor is the best" even though they have never tried another doctor. Those comments are emotional and freedom of speech allows us to say them. What I question is whether a rep. of the business has the knowledge and authoritity to make such a statement. To me it borders of inappropriate advertising.

Doddie,

She's here to push her book and to speak about having the band so she's not representing Inamed at all. She didn't even mention CIBO's actual name, she said she was holding an information seminar with Tom Saridis, who we all know is the founder of CIBO and she pushed her book.

She didn't discuss anything about the actual clinic other than her comment about it being the best in Canada. Hard for her to comment on a clinic that isn't even built yet. They have a name and some offices but no surgical suites. All their hype about their clinic is just that hype and nothing more. They are up to maybe 10 bands at most by now and aftercare is still in the very new stages so hard to comment on it when very few patients and very little time.

It's all a paid for smokescreen and anyone with half a brain can see through it all. Just be glad we were banded at some of the best clinics in Canada already and didn't have to try and decide now with all the advertising they are paying for to get their name out there. Actually most of us are smart enough to see through it all and probably would have still picked our respective clinics with proven stats.

CIBO clinic brought Khalia Ali into Toronto on their own. Inamed (now Allergan) was not involved. Presently Khalia Ali is not a spokeperson for Allergan so what she says at her presentations are based on her own thoughts and words.

Hello all,

I can't get anything from that link. Perhaps it has moved now? I searched Kailah Ali and Lap band but no luck. (well found this forum :tt1: and an Amazon link to her book!) If anyone can find it again, let me know.

Thanks,

I'd just like to say, that once people research (and let's hope that they do) they will make a sound decision. I chose our wonderful Dr. Yau by checking out his rating on a Doctor site and found out from that, that he is a bariatric surgeon with a long history of doing this. That and my Doctor looking him up and his credentials cemented the deal. I just hope that others will choose their surgeon the same way. Not knocking anyone else's but no author would convince me to choose on their recommendation. When and if I need to have plastic surgery, I'll do the same sort of research.

Mary

Mary,

You might be shocked how many people get snowed by celebrity endorsement of things. I did my research as well and I came across Yau and Cobourn. Met with both, equally impressed with both and just had an overall better connection with Cobourn but would never ever diss Yau since I thought he was great as well. My decision came down to personal connection with the surgeon and since I knew this was a lifelong relationship with him, I picked the one I had better chemistry with..we think alike and our personalities mesh well so everything has gone smoothly since Day 1.

I plan on researching PS the exact same way and I am not going to just pick the PS that someone else uses without doing my own research. I think I'll be even pickier with my PS choice than I was with my banding surgeon choice. The PS work is going to show a lot more than my band does so I want to make sure I don't pick a quack.

I'll see if I can find the link again but CTV only leaves them on for so long.

Hi fousilly,

You are quite right. If it didn't work to have celebrity endorsements, then they wouldn't bother!

I went with TLBC as I felt they also were including everything, where as the SWLC (I think, but I'm not sure, it very well could have been another clinic) had on their site that you had to pay for the preop diet that they supplied, and pay for a consultation, and lost that consultation money if you didn't have it with them. I just felt uncomfortable with that. But I'm sure both of our surgeons are wonderful. After all, we are here to tell the tale!

I picked up this thread late, so I was a bit too late for that link to work. Thanks if you manage to find anything.

Mary