The Island’s first certified obesity doctor is a step closer to fulfilling her lifelong dream of making a difference at home thanks to the opening of a specialist clinic.

Ayesha Peets Talbot has wanted to be a doctor since she was a little girl and, after more than a decade of studying and training, she has found her niche as the bariatric physician at Ocean Rock Wellness Ltd.

“My initial speciality was in internal medicine and paediatrics, which means that I am trained to deal with adults and children with more complex medical issues, or chronic medical issues,” she said.

“As an internist and paediatrician I have always thought about what I can be doing to do a better job at what I have been doing, and the answer came to me in the form of obesity medicine.”

Dr Peets Talbot, 34, explained that she saw a lot of adults suffering from chronic medical conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol and cancers, which are related to obesity and excess weight. She is also seeing the same diseases earlier in children.

“When I started to focus on weight management I was able to be a more effective physician,” she said. “I’m all about prevention, so it was just natural for me to start doing obesity medicine.”

Dr Peets Talbot said that obesity medicine had long been underrepresented because few physicians had focused on the subject. As a result, those suffering from obesity or excess weight have not been receiving the care and attention they need. But she added that obesity was now recognised as a disease and she hoped to provide people with options to manage and treat the condition.

“I was born and raised in Bermuda — my mom and dad are still here — and after 12 years of training and schooling I am coming back to what I consider as home,” she said.

“I always thought that I would come back, hopefully find a niche and be able to be helpful.”

Dr Peets Talbot, a mother of one, passed the American Board of Obesity Medicine Certification Exam in December 2013 and became the first certified physician to treat obesity and obesity-related conditions with medical weight-loss management in Bermuda. She cofounded Ocean Rock Wellness with nutritionist Dr Sabrina Famous and physiotherapist Beth Hollis.

Behavioural therapist Dr Renee Simons also joined the team and, after a soft opening last month, the practice officially opened on Saturday. It is based in Charities House in Paget.

“One of the main focuses of building Ocean Rock Wellness was to create a space where obesity and obesity-related illnesses are treated with what is considered now the best standard of care for obesity management, and that’s with a multidisciplinary team,” Dr Peets Talbot said, adding that the response so far had been positive.

“People are really receptive and people who have been suffering from obesity probably have been dealing with it for a lot of years, and they are happy to see that someone can help them,” she said.

“Often people who go into their doctor’s office and the doctor has said, ‘well, you know you’re obese’, are sent home with a message of eat less and exercise more and good luck with it.

“Now you have physicians specialising in that, which allows people to be able to be treated and managed under the direction of someone who has the expertise to treat it.”

Dr Peets Talbot said that while there was a cost associated with the treatment, the cost of suffering from the consequences of being overweight and obese was greater.

“The hospitalisation, even diabetes supplies, medications — all of that really is more expensive than obesity medicine treatment,” she said.

“We have a skewed healthcare model where we put our dollars mostly on interventions and not preventions, which is unfortunate.”

Dr Peets Talbot said that while she had been impressed with the response from insurance company BF&M, who are considering covering some of the treatment cost, she is now aiming to convince the other insurance companies to do the same and eventually cover the full cost.

- For more information, visit www.oceanrockwellness.com