'Store' offers a free change of clothes for patients of bariatric surgery

Nov 01, 2009 (La Crosse Tribune - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- CFI | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- When Wendy Culp had gastric bypass surgery three years ago, she started losing weight. Fast.

She'd wake up in the morning and her pajamas would fall off. Her clothing size changed about once a week as she dropped from a 24 to a 6 in those first six months.

Culp was prepared. She'd been to support groups and met other patients of the surgery, and six months before her operation she started calling consignment shops and asking for their cast-offs -- not just for her but for others.

To the consternation of her husband, Tim, Culp's collection grew to fill their garage. Then a storage unit.

Now, Culp has a storefront to operate her clothing exchange and hopes to turn the Sixth Street spot into a meeting place for others looking to shed weight and keep it off.

Clothing exchanges -- online and physical -- have sprung up around other hospitals that offer bariatric surgery, but Culp's is the only one of its type in this area.

"It's something that is talked about when we have national bariatric conferences," said Andrea Erickson, clinical manager for nutrition therapy at Gundersen Lutheran. "Nobody has done it around here."

With the help of some other volunteers, including her 16-year-old daughter, an aunt, and a cousin who also had the surgery, Culp is digging through an estimated $100,000 worth of clothes in an effort to get them onto racks and hangers.

Practically everything is donated, even the building.

Culp has arrangements with several consignment shops and received some new inventory when Feminine Fancies closed its doors.

A plum dress hangs on one of the walls, price tag still attached -- originally $198, later marked down to $25. For bariatric patients in need of a new size, it's free.

Culp, a day care provider, does the work in her spare time. The exchange, which she calls The New U, is open by appointment.

"This is large," she said, walking into a front room where the pile of clothes reaches halfway to the ceiling. Another room is full of smalls and mediums. Another with shoes. Down the hall, Culp can barely open the door of a room stuffed with clothes she hasn't even looked through.

Her priority is sorting the larger sizes most in demand by recent patients.

"Every couple of days I get a phone call from people wanting to come down," Culp said.

Gundersen Lutheran has performed the surgery on more than 850 patients since Dr. Shanu Kothari started the program in 2001. The hospital treats two to three new patients a week, most of them from within about 100 miles of La Crosse.

To qualify for the surgery, patients usually must be at least 100 pounds overweight and suffering obesity-related conditions such as diabetes or high blood pressure. Gundersen's patients typically lose about two-thirds of their excess weight, Kothari said -- much of it in the first six months after the surgery.

Culp, 36, said she began gaining weight 10 years ago after a pregnancy. Eventually she was carrying 241 pounds on her 5-foot-4 frame and couldn't keep up on family hikes and bike rides. She had sleep apnea, high blood pressure and rising cholesterol.

No matter what she tried, she couldn't lose weight and keep it off.

The surgery forced her to change her diet -- she says sugar makes her sick and she can't stand the smell of fast food, once a staple. She's learned that cooking a chicken breast can be just as easy as mac and cheese.

"People say, 'You took the easy way out,'" she says. "It's a lot harder than people think."

Culp also got active. In 2008, she climbed more than 7,000 feet to the top of Harney Peak in South Dakota.

"The confidence came on more and more," Tim Culp said. "It's only been three years and she's a drastically different person."

Culp took a self-defense class last winter at Three Rivers Martial Arts Academy, where she happened to mention her surgery and her clothing exchange to instructor Larry Klahn.

Klahn had a vacant building next to his studio and offered it to Culp, rent free.

Even he was surprised when Culp pulled up with a U-Haul truck full of clothing.

"Where are you getting this stuff?" he asked. "This is what you've been trying to do out of your house?"

Culp hopes the 4,200-square-foot store can become more than a clothing exchange. In November, one of Gundersen's dieticians will present a cooking demo there. The focus will be on foods easily tolerated by gastric bypass patients, Erickson said.

Culp eventually would like to host other demos as well as the monthly support group meetings for post-op patients. She plans to incorporate as a nonprofit business, once she has enough money to consult an attorney.

For now, The New U is a labor of passion.

"I applaud her effort," Kothari said. "It's kind of a unique attribute she's brought to the community."

Tim Culp is just glad to have half his garage back.

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