August 2011: BeliteWeight Weighs in on Mexico Day 1

Some of the BeliteWeight team made the annual monthly visit to the INT Hospital in Mexico last week. JoAnne brought Melissa, who is managing the public relations of BeliteWeight, on her first trip to Tijuana and sisters Ishi and Joyce came for a night! JoAnne's sister, Teri joined in on the fun later on as well. We met some amazing new people! We even had one of our old patients, Hilda bring one of her co-workers to get a surgery done. We love it when old patients bring their friends to help them live a more healthy and fulfilling life, so if you have any friends who are possibly interested in the procedures, let us know! We would love to give them more information.

Ishi and Joyce waiting to see the Doctor Elmo and Rodriguez

JoAnne with Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Juan Sanchez.. As you can tell Juan loves getting his picture taken.

Beautiful Ishi as she gets a fluoroscopic x-ray.

Ishi and Melissa. Melissa was learning how fluoroscopic x-rays are done.

Ishi getting ready while Dr. Elmo is preparing the fluids.

Joyce watching her sister Ishi.

One of our old patients Hilda came with her co-worker and to show how successful her weight loss has been and looks GORGEOUS! 

Regina and her step-mother waiting for her surgery.

Dr. Rodriguez and Regina's step mother meet before Cindy goes into surgery.

Regina and Dr. Rodriguez

Dr. Rodriguez and Gabby the day after her surgery.

Gabby and her boyfriend the day after her surgery. What a good boyfriend to come out and support her!

JoAnne and the anesthesiologist Doctora

Doctora, the anesthesiologist with Regina as she gets ready for surgery.

BeliteTeam: Joyce, JoAnne, Ishi and Melissa

Hilda with her co-worker/friend Erica the day after her surgery! They both look fabulous!

Melissa, who is in charge of the public relations with Hilda. 

Erin, Melissa, and Hilda.

Everyone in our van with their water, ready to go back to the United States.

JoAnne and Dr. Rodriguez

Gastric Band Patient Donna (came to get her last fill) and Dr. Rod.

 

Gastric Band patient Donna came to get her last fill. She looks so beautiful! We are so proud!

We had an amazing first day on our Mexico trip. As you can tell, we are all a close community at BeliteWeight. When you choose us, you are apart of our family. We always love to know how you are doing and will never leave you in the dark. Don't Wait, BeliteWeight!

Our Whirlwind Trip to Las Vegas

We are really happy to announce the addition of our new Las Vegas Medicare program for some of our weight loss surgery patients. Medicare pays for either the Lap Band (Gastric Band) or Gastric Bypass (RNY - Rouex n Y.) We have heard that possibly they might cover the Gastric Sleeve sometime starting in 2012 but this isn't confirmed yet.

In order to qualify and have Medicare pay for weight loss surgery the patient must have Medicare Parts A & B, a BMI (Body Mass Index) of 35 or higher and a medical condition such as sleep apnea, diabetes or hypertension (these are only a few, please call for more details.) For more information or to see if you qualify please call our Medicare Specialists at 1-800-215-6497.

A week ago, part of the BeliteWeight Team, JoAnne, Jamie, Sa and Teri, went to our new Las Vegas location to assist the patients who have Medicare Coverage for their surgery and who were arriving that week.

We left our office in Irvine, California on Sunday afternoon and hit the road to Las Vegas (about 4 hours away.) It was a relatively boring drive except for great company in the car and some of the scenery was interesting and pretty, in a desert sort of way.

We knew we were entering into Nevada by the various Casinos starting to line the roadway.

For Sunday night we were unable to get a reservation to stay at our usual location so we stayed at the M in Henderson.

We had a view of the mountains from our room.

Then we settled in and went up to a restaurant in the "tower" to eat dinner. We ordered some mini dishes like appetizers & from their smaller menu portions and shared them. With some of us being weight loss surgery patients, we still had food left over to snack on later in the room.

Inside the elevator.

View of the pool from the restaurant.

Scallops & deep fried apple pieces.

Salmon sushi roll.

JoAnne & Teri

Beef sliders & fries.

Sunset came about during the meal.

Lobster mini tacos.

View towards the Las Vegas strip.

Although the M Hotel is not on the Las Vegas strip, we highly recommend it as a great place to stay if you are just visiting or on vacation.  They have comfy beds and a nice casino for an affordable rate without paying for resort taxes.  Patients coming for surgery will be staying at a hotel much closer to the hospital.

Monday was spent working on coordination for the patients that were coming in for surgery, and went by Dr. Hanna's office and by the Psychologist's office also.

On Tuesday we went with one of the patients, Caroline, for her meeting with Dr. Hanna and his staff.

Carmen, Dr. Hanna's office manager.

Dr. Hanna

Jen, Dr. Hanna's patient coordinator.

Caroline & Dr. Hanna

Jen & Sa working on patient files together.

After business was taken care of, we had time in the evenings to do some sightseeing and overall had a good time. Here are some random Las Vegas photos.

Really funny looking building near the North Outlet Mall.

On Wednesday morning we saw the patients off to surgery at the hospital, then Jamie flew home to Idaho and JoAnne, Sa & Teri drove back to California. We had a great time together and it was a productive trip.