Surgery Specialty Hospitals of America Bariatric Center

Dr Alanis was very polite when I met with him back in July of 2002. He was very good at explaining to me the procedure and the side effects and all.

My first impression of Dr. Alanis was formed when I went to his office for other reasons besides WLS. I overheard people talking in the lobby and when my husband and I got back into the exam room, I had to ask him what the heck he did other than general surgery and that is when he explained the proceedure. That was in April 2002.

My impression of Dr. Alanis just got better over time, he was vary concerned about my problem that I went to see him for before the WLS, that is one reason I contacted him after I had my hemroidectomy in August.

His staff is vary helpful and informed, but they do seem to be short handed, when it comes to call backs, it usually takes a day to get the call back with voice mail, that may change because they have moved into a new building and probably will be adding employees.

At this time (1/10/03) I ahve no negative things to say about Dr. Alanis himself, just that his office seems to be short staffed.

Dr. Alanis really cares, it seems his bedside manner is like family, he really cares. My father came in from Ohio for my surgery, and wasnt too thrilled about it, Dr. Alanis spent 15-20 minutes with him in the waiting room of the hospital and my Dad now says he is the best surgeon to have and was not worried at all.

Dr. Alanis REALLY stresses the use of the support groups that are offered from his office, they meet every wednesday night and then once on saturdays. I have attended these support groups and they are vary helpful and informative.

Dr. Alanis was straight up with the risks involved, but I felt so comfortable with him, that the outcome over came any of the risks.

I know it is hard to beleive that anyone could have a perfect rating, the only thing that brings this rating down from 100% to 95% is the office staff being short handed and the call backs not happening promptly, other than that I would say surgery wise and doctor wise, I would recommend Dr. Alanis without any hesitation.

Both surgical and bedside manner with Dr. Alanis is WONDERFUL!! I thank him and the good Lord for my second chance at life!!

Great first impression. Very knowledgeable and confident.

I became very ill from complications from my surgery. I had my galbladder removed and a repair of a hiatel hernia on my sternum at the same time. I spent seven weeks in and out of the hospital due to severe nausea and vomiting.

I cannot tell you how many times I had to wake Dr. Alanis in the middle of the night in that seven week period and every time he was right there to support me -- he was extremely caring.

90% of office staff has had gastric bypass surgery, they do a great job of managing your process based on their own experiences.

Aftercare is very important, they have weekly support groups that their patients must attend. They insist on post op appointments with your surgeon every 2 months and you MUST get lab work completed bi-monthly to ensure you are within the appropriate levels nutritionally.

I would have considered surgical competence to be the most important until I spent seven weeks in the hospital with severe nausea and vomiting. It is amazing how important how your surgeon cares for you can be when you are really ill for a subtantial length of time, the doctors can't figure out why, and you can't seem to get better. Suddenly how your surgeon cares for you and manages your surgical complications becomes the most important focus of your surgical experience. How much weight you are losing just doesn't seem to matter any more.

My first impression of Dr. Alanis was wonderful. He is kind and funny.
1/5/03 I am three weeks post op and want to say again what a wonderful man Dr Alanis is. He is amazing!

12-17-02 I had my first consultation with Dr. Alanis. My first impression was that he was a very nice and down to earth man who was very knowledgeable of his craft as a basiatric surgeon. Although the wait at NeWeigh was terriblely long everyone was so nice and kept thanking me and my husband for being patient. So be prepared to wait a while if you use this surgeon because he only does clinic once a week so they try to fit everyone (post-op and pre-op alike)From what I see so far he has a very good aftercare program as well as support group there at NeWeigh I got to talk to a lot of people and everyone was very friendly with sharing their expierinces right there while we waited (kinda made the wait not so bad) Dr.Alanis explained everything very well even drawing a diagram!! He was upfront about the risk and also what my role would be in the process . So far I would give him a 9 1/2 out of 10 and that is only because of the wait which he did apologize for several times. I will add more after my surgery....

Dr. Alanis explained the surgery in detail along with it's pros/cons. He also answered ALL of the questions I had (and believe me, I had a lot of them!)thoroughly. I feel very confident in his surgical abilities and on top of that, he seems to have a wonderful, sincere bedside manner. Dr. Alanis puts a lot of emphasis on the after care program and keeping up with taking vitamins, etc. for life following this surgery. The wait to see him (long on day of appt) was actually a blessing in disguise, because it gave me the opportunity to speak to other patients who have had this surgery with him. Dr. Alanis contracts with a program called NeWeigh. NeWeigh provides the after-care program and takes care of all the insurance submissions, etc. So, they are supposed to be sending in my insurance request as I type this:) Anyway, will update more the next time I meet with him.

I really like Dr. alanis, he has always been very pleasant. i had no complications during surgery and he has always been very attentive to my post surgery concerns. He went over all the risks that could result from the surgery. Very nice man! i give him a 10.

I felt that Dr. Alanis weas very knowledgable about the surgery. He did say he was over the learning curve when I asked him about doing the RNY lap. All I know is I am so excited. I have a pre-op consult on the 22nd of Oct. and I will update this.

I got warm fuzzies in my tummy the first time I met Dr. Alanis. He is a very laid back doctor that is straight and to the point with the pros and cons of this procedure.

The office staff for both offices are wonderful as well. Most of them have been here themselves.

I can't think of one thing that I don't like. He did my surgery on April 12, 2002 and my husbands on September 18, 2002. We love him.

Ask him anything, he will give you the complete and honest truth and or opinion.

Yes. He has both a structured aftercare program and he is very stern with you regarding using it.

Overall, He is a very good doctor, persons person, all around great man.

I think that Dr. Alanis has wonderful bedside manner. His surgical competence is also amazing. He is just an all around impressive person.

I met with Dr. Alanis on 8/20/02 - I found him to be very understanding and informative. He spent a lot of time with my husband and me going over every detail of the procedure and made sure we really had an understanding of everything involved.

The staff at NeWeigh was great. They were helpful and very excited for me to have come this far in making my decision. Even though the afternoon was very busy in the office, they always made sure the check on us and see if we needed anything.

At this point I would rate him a great physician. He really took to the time to address all my question and concerns.

The only complaint I have concerns NeWigh -while they were great on the initial visit, I have had to make all the contact with them to find out my status, rather than them calling me with the authorization info, etc. Overall the authorizations went fine and my insurance approved me on Sept 20th. Only 10 days after they received the packet. I know from working in the insurance field, this is not the norm, so they must really have spent time on the information which was sent in.