To the Editor
Over my 38-year career as a nurse, my interest in ostomy care and teaching has been central to my fulfillment in choosing nursing as a profession. The challenges early on in even being able to locate pouches for patients and then trying to provide a reliable pouching system, with what rudimentary supplies we had to protect the skin, were sometimes incredible tasks. I can remember feeling awful, as we were discharging a patient from the hospital with a new colostomy with only a couple of pouches-nonodorproof, rubber bands to secure the bottom and karaya rings that melted too quickly as the only skin barrier. And, into a community with few resources, no knowledgeable caregivers or follow-up teaching on how to manage life with an ostomy.
Recently I was at the 40th WOCN conference in Orlando, and while there, I was thrilled to reunite with 2 of the most tireless workers ever in the field of ostomy care and teaching. Bobbie Brewer and Jane Walker were the 2 founding members of the United Ostomy Association (UOA) chapter in Atlanta who have contributed more than most of us know to the lives of those who have been directly touched by ostomy surgery as well as healthcare providers such as WOC nurses. They also worked tirelessly for years in the national UOA organization.
Jane reminded me that she and I first met while I was on a clinical rotation in the surgical department at Grady Memorial Hospital in the early 1970s-she was doing a presentation for the UOA. What a memory!! She and I have kept in touch over the years as I continued to work in the field.
Jane and Bobbie were at the conference with their traveling display of ostomy products that dated from the 1950s, still enthusiastic, and teaching young nurses what it was like before all the modern pouching supplies we have today. While poor stoma locations, unusual abdominal contours, obesity, and retracted stomas still make pouching a challenge for some patients, we are light years ahead of the game in terms of reliable, comfortable, odorproof, long wearing, skin protective, and discreet systems as compared to those early years.
The WOCN with over 4,000 members and a 40-year history has a great foundation in enhancing the care and teaching of ostomy patients. My prayer is that we never forget the tremendous contributions of people like Jane Walker and Bobbie Brewer and the dedication and commitment to that cause that these ladies have given. Let us continue to strive to do a better job of managing and teaching ostomy patients in both hospital and posthospital institutional and community settings. We owe it to our patients and we owe to these inspirations to continue to raise the bar on the quality and availability of ostomy resources across the healthcare spectrum.
Linda Moore, BSN, RN, CWCN, COCN