LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Lose the weight, keep it off and get it all paid for. That deal is being offered to CCSD educators.
More than 50 have gotten bariatric surgery through the Wellness Incentive Program so far.
Two years ago, the Teachers Health Trust, the health insurance plan for educators in Clark County, started offering the incentive. If an educator facing health challenges because of morbid obesity opts for bariatric surgery their $5,000 co-pay will be reimbursed if they keep the weight off over a five-year period, $1,000 each year their target body mass index is met.
“This used to be tight on me. These are 48”. I used to wear 50” and now I’m down to a 36,” Dean Goldhammer, a CCSD special education teacher and coach for 30 years explained to FOX5 holding up a pair of jeans.
Goldhammer underwent bariatric surgery 18 months ago.
“Going from 319 lbs. to today 205 lbs. and hopefully 175 lbs. by next year… It’s the best thing I did in my life,” Goldhammer contended. Goldhammer says his life has completely changed.
“I play pickleball. Tennis every single day, I go to the gym… Before, when I was heavy, I kind of like I hid out in my own house by myself,” Goldhammer confessed.
He was a competitive tennis player since he was a child, but started putting on weight after an ankle surgery in his 50’s.
“I’ve had a hip replacement because of my weight… they told me if I don’t lose weight, my knees were going to have to be replaced and my other hip,” Goldhammer revealed.
A doctor’s words lead the coach to the operating table for bariatric surgery.
“My doctor, I think I had him on his last day of his career, he was he was 80 years old. He says, ‘You’re younger than I am by 20 years, but your insides are a lot older than me because of the weight you’re carrying. You’re not going to be here very long.’ And that’s when I said, ‘I got to do something,’” Goldhammer shared.
He’s lost more than 100 pounds so far and plans to drop 20 more not only regaining his health but $1,000 a year until he recoups his $5,000 co-pay from the Teachers Health Trust. Their Chief Operating Officer says this unique program for Clark County educators is saving lives and changing others.
“I’ve received emails and phone calls from members saying, ‘Hey, it’s really impacted not just myself, but my family. I’m able to do activities with my kids and with my grandkids that I wasn’t able to do before the surgery,’” stated Rory Wright, Chief Operating Officer for Teachers Health Trust.
Goldhammer contends the hardest part of the process was the liquid diet the week before and the liquid diet the week after surgery but now he goes out to restaurants and eats normally, just smaller portions.
To any educator thinking about getting the surgery, he says don’t wait.
Teachers Health Trust tells us interested educators should reach out directly and they will set up a consult with one of the physicians that are part of the bariatric surgery program.
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