Ayesha Peets Talbot saw herself as the heroic hospital doctor, providing specialised care for the seriously ill.

Instead, she became a bariatric specialist; her job is to stop people from reaching that point.

The crossroads came in her final year of medical training.

A woman in her early 50s, with a history of diabetes,

asthma and blood pressure

issues, was having trouble breathing and came into the hospital for treatment.

“I could see the fear and anxiety in her eyes,” Dr Peets Talbot remembered. “I was doing my best to reassure her that everything would be fine.”

Within half an hour, the woman’s vitals slipped.

“Her blood pressure plummeted, heart rate, everything, into a flatline,” the physician said. “She died. And it was surprising because I didn’t think she was going to die.

“I really, really thought that she was going to live.”

An autopsy revealed the woman had H1N1 and pneumonia.

“People who are dying from H1N1 have some type of chronic disease, whether it be high blood pressure, diabetes or asthma. Their immune systems are already compromised,” Dr Peets Talbot said.

“It kind of threw me back. I really saw myself as a hospitalist doctor rushing in to save the day, but oftentimes that can be too late. I decided that my goal and passion really is to keep people out of the hospital.”

Two years ago she started Ocean Rock Wellness with physician Sabrina Famous and physiotherapist Beth Hollis.

To achieve their goal of multidisciplinary disease management they launched a weight programme based on a “tool kit that will help you for life”.

“There is a lot of chronic disease in Bermuda and we spend an enormous amount of money as a community to fix that, Dr Peets Talbot said. “What we’re doing is not only for obesity. It’s chronic disease management.”

A 12-year-old weighed 380lbs when she started the programme two years ago. She lost 50lbs — and then put the weight back on.

Dr Peets Talbot said it taught the group a valuable lesson.

“Children are children. You probably have to do more lifestyle change work on the parents to help bring about the lifestyle change in the children: the meals they share; their activity levels; the stress levels in the household affect the child in the same way.

“She has a hernia, she has pre-diabetes, and she has polycystic ovary syndrome, so things are going to be mounting. This is the exact type of patient we’re trying to prevent from being in the hospital.”

Dr Peets Talbot said that when she completed her studies at Commonwealth University in 2011 she found a lot of disgruntled people here.

“It wasn’t unusual to hear a patient have some criticism of the system, whether it be the hospital or physicians or insurance companies.

“A lot of people were looking at overseas care as an option, which is another problem because that drives the healthcare costs up greatly.

“I also feel like people were not, what I call, TCD-ing their health. Historically, TCD was insanely strict about getting your car on the road. You couldn’t have a patch of rust; all the checks and balances had to be on point or you would fail. If we only did what our insurance companies required us to do, our cars would be in disrepair.

“That’s how people are with their health insurance. You pay and you have it, but there needs to be someone, whether it’s yourself or your doctor, who says these things need to be done or you’re failing on your health test.

“Just as you have to go above and beyond to have a well-maintained car, you also have to go above and beyond to have a well-maintained body.”

She said eating well, exercising regularly and removing stress are some of the factors that need to be addressed.

“It’s not about putting a medication on top of another medication on top of another medication,” she said.

“It’s so we can start taking off medication. I love taking people off medication. That’s where I get my real high.”

•Ocean Rock Wellness will next month release Healing Bermuda, a book covering their successes and failures over the last two years.

A cookbook featuring “hacks on traditional Bermuda cooking” will be out this summer. See www.healingbermudabook.com

For the full list of programmes visit oceanrockwellness.com