GRATITUDE

This Thanksgiving falls very near the closure of WVP Medical Weight Management Clinic. As I reflect on this coincidence, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for the past four years.

First and foremost, I am thankful for my boss. I remember the day I sat in his office and started a conversation with him which very much resembled a friendly game of tennis. “Obesity is a problem, a big problem,” I served the dialog nonchalantly.  He looked up from his computer and the reams of paper which sprawled across his desk. “What do you want to do about it?” he volleyed right back to my court more interested and knowledgeable about the issue than I would have guessed. “Let’s start a clinic,” I chipped and charged. “You’ll need a grant,” he returned with an ace. I didn’t see that coming and I didn’t know the first thing about grants. He did and he got one. Game, set, match: Dean. He’s a superstar.

It was the support of WVP that enabled us to move forward with the project. I am so thankful for the WVP staff who put time, effort, and expertise into building us out. I might know something about building an obesity medicine program but I knew nothing about all the back end work of building a clinic. Kudos to the personnel in IT, HR, billing, and NextGen who had the patience and know-how to get things off the ground.

We started humbly in my original family practice office, but quickly grew and moved, not once but twice landing in a beautiful new building on 12^th street. We had our ups and downs to be sure, figuring out referrals, experimenting with clinic hours at the hospital, finding the right staffing, adding providers, trying out different groups, learning how to bill, being rejected again and again. I suppose the most fun for me was getting our program name out there, knocking on doors with Stephanie or Jeanine, meeting colleagues over their noon hour, promoting the medical treatment of obesity. The work was energizing. Again, I was surrounded by coworkers whose attention to detail made my job easier. Their excellence, encouragement, and enthusiasm carried me many days.

Finally, I am grateful for the patients from whom I have learned so much about the respectful and real treatment of people with obesity. I am particularly indebted to my very first patient. It was our brand spankin’ new body composition scale’s inauguration day and I waited eagerly if not smugly in my office while the MA roomed the lucky patient who was getting to use it first.

“What’s her BMI?” I inquired when the MA finally popped her head in to let me know the patient was ready. “I didn’t weigh her,” she replied and explained the patient was in a wheel chair. “’Well, I’ll help you,” I offered a little irritated, moving past her to solve the problem. “She is paralyzed,” the easygoing MA smiled softly, “she can’t be weighed.” Oh, that was a different story. And I sat back down surprised and embarrassed at my own arrogance. In addition to her inability to exercise and decreased metabolism, the patient was taking several weight promoting medications. I wanted to quit before I got started. How in the world was I going to help her?

Then I remembered the original vision I had for the clinic. I was not the helper; I was only a vessel through which the Helper would work if I would just let Him.

And so I am grateful. I am grateful for every person, every opportunity, every mistake, misstep, fumble, fear which has driven me forward to this point in time and without which I would not be here.  These last four years and WVP MWMC has been a great success. And I got to be part of it. Thank you.