To visit the site please click the link below.

External Links:
The Stomawise website – http://www.stomawise.co.uk

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Opus Healthcare

We’re delighted to announce that another company has agreed to have an entry in our manufacturers listings. Opus Healthcare is a UK based who produce ostomy accessories, many of which are highly regarded in the market.

Opus Healthcare’s products include the fantastic pancaking-busting product Clear Way Stoma Bridge, which we recently featured in our Combating Leakage: Some Products You May Not Be Aware Of editorial.

We’d like to thank Opus Healthcare for allowing us to feature them on Ostomyland, and we hope that their inclusion will bring their products attention to UK ostomates and in turn that it helps them more effectively manage any stoma management issues they have.

Useful Links: 
The Opus Healthcare page on Ostomyland:
http://ostomyland.com/mainsite/manufacturers-opus-healthcare/
The Opus Healthcare website (External Site):
http://www.opus-healthcare.co.uk

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C&S Ostomy Pouch Covers

C&S Ostomy Pouch Covers have very kindly given us some new and updated content for their manufacturer’s page on Ostomyland. The content shows the various new ranges they have available for purchase, including daily wear covers, quick dry covers as well as some new covers with fun quotes on them.

We all know that for some people, having an ostomy can be a difficult experience both physically and emotionally, and I often say that the most important step of living with an ostomy is acceptance. You dont have to love the stoma, but once you’ve accepted the fact you have a stoma you can start to move on, and continue with your life.

And, one things is for sure, whatever the cover’s pattern – be it just a plain cover, tartan cover, spotty cover, or even one with the slogan Shit Happens or Does This Cover Make My Stoma Look Big? on it – an ostomy pouch cover can help with your self confidence [with clothes or without ] and keep you drier in hot summer days when your pouch may normally cause your skin to sweat where it rubs against it.

C&S Ostomy Pouch Covers now despatch internationally too, so why not take a peak at their newly updated Oland page, and see if any covers tickle your fancy.

Useful Links:
The C&S Ostomy Pouch Covers page on Ostomyland:
http://ostomyland.com/mainsite/manufacturers_cs_ostomy_pouch_covers/
The C&S Ostomy Pouch Covers website & store:
http://www.cspouchcovers.com/

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Taken from the Patient Choice website:

• Patient Choice Business is a new type of healthcare company; profits go to charity, and it only provides products and services that enhance [the] quality of life for patients.

• Patient Choice earns its income from the NHS through its appliance prescription service, Patient Choice Delivery. In addition we also supply natural rubber ostomy bags through Ward Surgical.

• The pharmaceutical industry has always attracted controversy, and with the supply of critical treatments and essential medical products providing unprecedented margins, it is often difficult to know who to trust.  All trading profits of Patient Choice Delivery go to funding projects to support patients in the UK and abroad.  To see some of our work please see the Patient Choice Foundation.

It certainly sounds a novel idea to us. There are so many medical services which have great ideas but end up sinking because of lack of money. And there are many Ostomates out there who are keen to give back to the medical community but maybe do not have the finances to allow a monetary donation, especially in this current era of austerity. Patient Choice brings those two areas together to the benefit of both.

It works by the Ostomate sending their NHS prescription to Patient Choice Delivery, who will dispatch them their prescription to the ostomates specific specifications,  but with one crucial difference – profits from the prescription are funnelled into the Patient Choice Foundation award fund, which in turn is then invested in deserving medical projects.

Its a win-win situation for all involved and helps UK ostomates contribute to charity without having to dig out their cheque books.

More information on the Patient Choice Foundation will be made available very soon when the individual services officially launch, but in the meantime you can learn a lot more about Patient Choice and their services via their website, linked below, and Patient Choice Delivery is available right now. They would also like to hear from any Ostomates who have suggestions for which projects should benefit from an award.

External Links:
Patient Choice Foundation:  http://www.patientchoiceuk.org/

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It’s been a busy year for us, with some new features coming to the site, and our community member base continuing to grow. If you are interested in what we accomplished this year, why not have a read of our “State of the Community” blog, which is a bi-annual round up of what each part of the site has achieved, and the plans we have for the 6 months ahead. You can find that over in our community blogs section. Or directly from this link: http://www.ostomyland.org/ostomyboardipb/index.php?/blog/15-ostomyland-state-of-the-community/ (* Requires free community member account to read. Register here.)

But what can you expect from us in 2012? The short answer is “more”. More peer-to-peer support, more ostomy news and reviews and features, but the two big projects I have lined up for this year is the introduction of a ticket-based support system for account and website related help as at the moment it is not always clear who should be emailed for what problem etc. This system will allow both Kathy and myself to staff the support desk to sort out any account queries whereas at the moment the speed of reply depends who the member has emailed and their own personal health problems at the time (because, dont forget, we’re all patients ourselves with health problems too).

The second big project is a total overhaul and buff up of the Wiki system. There is a wealth of information on there but very little member interaction on it. I’m looking into ways to improve this, and more than likely I will replace the Wiki software to the industry standard MediaWiki (very similar to Wikipedia’s software).

So that’s the two big projects for this year. But on top of that there will no doubt be improvements and feature-additions to our community software suite written by Invision Power. They are continually improving and revamping their Invision Power Board (IPB) and add ons such as the blog, gallery and chat systems. There is a big 3.3 update due within the next month which is introducing some new features to the reputation system that we use, and you can read more on that on the Invision Power website itself.

Anyway, thank you one and all for your support over the last 14 years. Reading other forum based communities online I realise just how lucky I have been with the quality and friendliness of the member base which has grown here on Ostomyland and cannot say just how large a part of my life you have all become. So here is to looking ahead to 2012 – it just wouldnt be the same without you all.

Thanks everyone, and Happy Birthday Ostomyland!

Jason D.
Founder/Webmaster/Senior Admin/Coffee Maker, Chief Cook and Bottle Washer
Ostomyland.com 

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The Bad Tummy Foundation is a non-profit organization creating public awareness regarding all stomach diseases. They are advocating for research to find a cure and also provide positive support systems for all who live with these diseases.

The Bad Tummy Foundation has also recently partnered with the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America!

The organization is honor of founder Marci Baron Flatt‘s Father as he fought Crohn’s Disease his whole life and died from the complications of the disease. Sadly, Marci too has the disease, and says:

[...] without this support system, I wouldn’t know how to deal with the everyday battles of the chronic pain. A support system is so important when dealing with these diseases.

If you suffer from any stomach or digestive disease such as Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis to name but just a few, why not pay a visit to the Bad Tummy Foundation‘s website or Facebook group.

External Links:
Bad Tummy Foundation Website: http://www.badtummy.org
Bad Tummy Foundation Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/BadTummyFoundation

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The full news announcement from the CA reads as follows:

REMINDER, Group move on Monday

A date for your diary – Monday 16th January, 2012 at 12 o’clock.

This is the day and the time that we will be moving.

You see, you may or not be aware that our CA group is an ‘open’ group. That means anyone can read what we are posting. Some of us will be showing posts and links to the CA Group in the right hand side of our Facebook pages which all our friends can see. Now, not everyone on the CA Group wants everyone to know what we are saying to each other. So we have decided to make the CA Group a ‘closed’ group. That way, what we write to each other will remain private.

 

Now being Facebook nothing is easy. You cannot alter the status of a group that has more than 250 members. We have 455 members today. So we have to close the current group – delete it – and open a new group which we will set up as a ‘closed’ group and everyone will need to rejoin this new group. It will be called the same as the existing group – Colostomy Association – and it will behave the same as the current group in terms of notifications. This is one of the problems with the Page we set up because it does not notify members of posts like the group does.

We have set 16th January, 2012 as the date in order that we can have enough time to get used to the idea of a move and what to do.

We will have to delete the existing group before we can set up the new group because we want to keep the name the same. But we should be able to do all this in a matter of minutes. Just search for Colostomy Association Group and ask to join. Myself, Duncan and Helen will add you to the group.

So that’s Monday 16th January, 2012 at 1200GMT

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Inside this issue:

• CA News
• Latest Stoma Care Products & Services
• Mary’s Story
• Pathways to a Colostomy (Faye’s Journey)
• Breakaway Latest News
• Betty’s Story
• Open Day Report
• Diet… About Constipation
• Irrigation and You
• Disposal – Readers Reactions

For your copy contact the CA via their website, or phone them on 0118 939 1537

External Links:
Colostomy Association UK Website: http://www.colostomyassociation.org.uk

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Tidy Pal - the safe and hygienic temporary storage solution

Have you found yourself needing to change your appliance in a public toilet, or a bathroom outside your home, only to find that there are no hooks for you to hang your belongings or your change-kit? If so, Tidy-Pal might be for you. Although its not being marketed exclusively for the ostomy market, it was nevertheless designed by Ileostomate Michael Wood with the aim of meeting the needs of almost all ostomates who find themselves changing their pouch in the outside world.

The Tidy-Pal hooks over the top of any door, and provides you with an assortment of hooks and loops for you to hang your possessions and means you no longer need to worry about leaving your possessions on a potentially unhygienic toilet or changing room floors or your possessions being left dumped on beds or chairs.

For more information or to purchase the Tidy-Pal, please visit the product website. Tidy-Pal is available worldwide with shipping by UK Royal Mail.

External Links:
The Tidy-Pal Website: http://www.tidy-pal.com

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To launch the section we have two services listed, one in the USA – Edgepark Medical Supplies – and one in the UK – Securicare (Part of Salts). You can find their page links in our new Suppliers (Home Delivery) sidebar menu category, or by clicking the links at the bottom of this post. Both companies have been very helpful and patient in the creation of this new section, so our thanks goes to them.

The listings are a free service for all companies, and the page content is usually written and supplied by the company themselves as they know how best to advertise their services.

We hope you find this new addition to the site useful, especially as it starts to grow over the coming weeks and months. More listings are coming very soon!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Useful Links:
The Edgepark Medical Services page on Ostomyland: http://ostomyland.com/mainsite/suppliers-edgepark-medical-supplies/
The Securicare page on Ostomyland: http://ostomyland.com/mainsite/securicare-home-delivery-service/

External Links:
Edgepark Medical Services Website: http://www.edgepark.com
Securicare Website: http://www.securicaremedical.co.uk/

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