Support groups for patients before and after surgical treatment of obesity are created by the CHLO Bariatric Patients Association in cooperation with the OD-WAGA Foundation. Bariatric Patient Support Groups already operate in 9 cities, incl. in Krakow, Warsaw and Łęczna. Patient organizations create new groups at hospitals performing bariatric surgeries. Admission to the meetings of support groups is free and does not require registration.
Bariatric surgery - still not enough
Hospitals that performbariatric surgeriesestimate that there are between 500,000 and 700,000 people in Poland. people suffering from obesity of the third degree, the so-called enormous, i.e. withBMI( body mass index ) - 40 and more. For those patients, treatmentsobesity surgical treatmentis the treatment method that produces the best results.Bariatric surgeryis also used in the treatment of people with 2nd degree obesity (BMI 35+) and diseases that are complications of obesity, e.g. type 2 diabetes, arterial hypertension, heart disease, and joint degeneration. Annually, we perform about 2-3 thousand. bariatric surgery. This is a lot compared to many other countries. For example, in 2022, only 153 such procedures were performed in Canada with a comparable number of patients eligible for such treatment. But also, and not very much taking into account the number of Poles for whom bariatric surgery is a rescue from further obesity and death. Moreover, in Poland there is no uniform system of diagnostics, hospital care and postoperative monitoring for patients, the so-called bariatric.
The Support Group helps reach specialists
- For us obese patients, the operation is only the beginning of treatment - explains Katarzyna Partyka, President of the CHLO Bariatric Patient Association. - After losing weight, we must change our entire lives and learn to control the disease so that it does not come back. We are assisted by specialists: dieticians, psychologists, physiotherapists, as well as doctors of various speci alties. And many of us do not have access to them. Or for financial reasons, because we cannot afford consultations. Or for organizational reasons, because we cannot get to them for an appointment at a certain time, explains Partyka. To help bariatric patients reach out to specialists and enable them to exchange their ownexperience, the Association creates, in cooperation with hospitals, the Bariatric Patient Support Groups. Groups meet once a month for special informational meetings:Info-CHLO-Spot .
Each meeting consists of 4 elements :
- lecture by a bariatric surgeon on surgery for new patients,
- workshops with specialists supporting obesity treatment,
- individual consultations with specialists,
- conversations with the patients themselves about their successes and problems.
- We invite all patients who are before and after surgery, as well as people who for some reason are interested in the subject of bariatric surgery to the information meetings of the Bariatric Patient Support Groups. For example, because someone close to them suffers from obesity and they want to help him. Admission to the Support Group meetings is free for everyone and does not require prior registration - says Katarzyna Partyka.
Bariatric Patient Support Groups- Kraków : University Hospital, ul. Kopernika 21, Library of Red Surgery,
- Łęczna : County Hospital in Łęczna, ul. Krasnystawska 52,
- Łódź : University Clinical Hospital No. Barlickiego, ul. Kopcińskiego 22,
- Warszawa : Clinical Hospital of the CMKP them. Orłowskiego, ul. Czerniakowska 231,
- Zabrze:Specialist Hospital, ul. M. Skłodowskiej - Curie 10,
- Olsztyn:Municipal Complex Hospital, ul. Niepodległości 44.
- Słupsk : Provincial Specialist Hospital, ul. Hubalczyki 1,
- Ciechanów : Specialist Provincial Hospital, ul. Powstańców Wielkopolskich 2,
- Lubin : EMC Hospital, ul. Gen. Józef Bem 5-6.
Information on meeting dates and locations of new Support Groups can be found at: www.chlo.com.pl
ImportantPoradnikzdrowie.pl supports safe treatment and a dignified life of people suffering from obesity. This article does not contain discriminatory and stigmatizing content of people suffering from obesity.
About the author
Magdalena Gajda A specialist in obesity disease and obesity discrimination of people with diseases. President of the OD-WAGA Foundation of People with Obesity, Social Ombudsman for the Rights of People with Obesity in Poland and a representative of Poland in the European Coalition for People Living with Obesity. By profession - a journalist specializing in he alth issues, as well as a PR, social communication, storytelling and CSR specialist. Privately - obesity since childhood, after bariatric surgery in 2010. Starting weight - 136 kg, current weight - 78 kg.