Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
My name is Betsy Day and I'm the clinical manager for the UAMS weight control
clinic
I've been here for nine years. the program is
offers medically supervised weight loss. We do have two endocrinologist
that see our patients on a regular basis we offer
nutrition and behavior modification classes are all taught by registered
dietitians
we also can provide individualized counseling and coaching with our
dietitians
we see patients all the time that you know they can very quickly
reduce the amount of insulin they need or decrease their blood pressure
medication
and so yes they're very motivated excited by the weight
and the way their clothes are fitting but we also want to get them to get excited about
how to improve their health
long-term. And these people are with us for years and years and years so it
really is a long-term very special relationship
My name is Sam Giannavola I've been at UAMS for about 30 years and I'm a staff
photographer in
the department of Creative Services. I knew I needed to do something about it because
I need a lifestyle change and that's what more or less this was for me not just
losing weight
because losing weight was something I can do on my own I need a complete
lifestyle change in the way I
eating in making and not learn more about nutrition.
Some things I do now and never did before for instance
I never going to the grocery store without looking at the back of the can before I buy
it
and see the nutritional stuff. I didn't care about any of that stuff before I just
kept pace
I just cared about how it tasted. By the time I was
out of the 16 weeks I've lost about 70 pounds.
I feel I'm a better photographer because I can
move about a lot more gracefully than I could before.
I can take photographs now I couldn't take before because I knew if I got
on my hands and knees and was taking photographs to get the best composition
I knew it was going to be embarrassing for me to try to get up. I tell other
people
this wasn't that difficult process at all and given the influence on the staff
here the encouragement of the staff,
and the knowledge of the staff it was a real good experience.
We do work very closely with
you know several other clinics in terms of sharing patience in trying to
I'm team approach in terms of improving their health.
One my favorite patients is one that actually came from the Cancer Institute
that doctor Barlogie said you know "I've treated your cancer I've done all I do, but
by golly you better loose some weight or else you're going to have other heart problems."
Many of our actual patients are actual employees here at UAMS and I think
that's important that they've embraced
the healthcare mission they want to improve their health so we're really
excited about our new space here in the central building
we're real excited to have our own space dedicated just for our patients
and have it be a lot more patient-friendly
intensive the accommodations that we can offer them
Do you have a kitchen where we have a full-size refrigerator and a microwave
and convection oven
so we can do cooking demonstrations now here
in our facility and that's going to be a wonderful tool for our patients
I just think the program here has been wonderful
Betsy and her staff have been the best thing about this program
and I do it again in a minute. But hopefully I won't have to.