Highlights of our 2009 Meetings
What Happened at Our November 10th Meeting
At 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 10th, we met at O'Connor Hospital's Sister Rosalie Rendu Conference Room. Thirty-seven people were in attendance at the meeting, including three who attended for the first time, one of whom came in preparation for Ileostomy Surgery next week.
Ed Primeau &
Robyn Home from Coloplast (see photo) were with us for the meeting. They updated us on the latest new products available from Coloplast, and answered questions raised by the attendees. Robyn made the main presentation. She is a recent import from Australia (arriving 2 1/2 months ago) where she has worked in the same capacity since 1978. The presentation was very well done.
We also held an open forum where attendees brought concerns to the group to be addressed by more experienced ostomates.
What Happened at our October 13th Meeting
It was a dark and rainy night with the first winter storm blowing across our region, but we had a surprising good turnout, giving the conditions outside. For this meeting we planned to have a show and tell period, when people could show and demonstrate resources that have helped us to live better lives.
Two of those in attendance were here for the first time, one having had a colostomy and one having had an ileostomy. One other had been here for the first time, last month, and several days after that meeting he had a colostomy, and was with us again. We spent a good amount of our time responding to those new ostomates question's, and never got to the show and tell.
What Happened at our September 9th Meeting
 
On Tuesday, September 9th, we met in the DePaul Conference Room at O'Connor Hospital. Our President, Peggy, was back with us and presided over the meeting. Nearly thirty people were in attendance including ten persons who were here for the first time. We divided the group into three groups, based upon the type of surgery (Ileostomy, Colostomy, or Urostomy). In each group we responded to questions others had, particularly the questions brought by the first time visitors.
What happened at our August 11th Meeting
We met again at 7:00 on Tuesday, August 11th. Our President, Peggy, was unable to be with us, so Vice President Henry. We had 29 people with us, and among them was three new ostomate, one of whom came with three family members who are part of her support network. The meeting was one of our sharing type meetings, with no formal program. This provides an opportunity for people to bring questions and concerns to the group, so that they can draw upon the accumulated wisdom and experience of the other members. Members of the group have had ostomy surgery from one to forty eight years ago.
What happened at our June 9th Meeting
President Peggy started the meeting at 7:03pm. We immediately introduced our guest speaker, Sally Talley, RN, WOCN (she is an Enterostomal Therapist--ET). She has been an ET nurse for over 30 years at Community Hospital of Los Gatos & Good Samaritan Hospitals. She spent almost the entire hour & a half answering questions, giving suggestions, tips, etc. to make everyone's life's easier to deal with some issues regarding ostomies. It was a very interactive session, I think that everyone got something out of it. We really appreciate Sally's time as we know how busy ET nurses always are. When Sally finished, Peggy gave her a beautiful flowering plant for spending time with the group.
What happened at our May 12th Meeting
We met at 7 p.m. in the Sister Rosalie Rendu Conference Room. With us at the meeting was Dr. Gary Silver, the retired heart surgeon who was instrumental in our being able to resume meeting at O'Connor Hospital, as we have for several decades. His intervention on our behalf led to a review of the decision which had resulted in our having to find a new meeting place for our January meeting. SVOSG expressed it thanks to him for his efforts on our behalf. We also heard a brief presentation from Dr. Silver, regarding an opportunity for the public to take part in a campaign to upgrade the Mammography equipment at the hospital.
Thirty-two people attended our May meeting including three people who had recently had colostomy surgery. The bulk of the meeting was spent in responding to questions and concerns brought by the participants. We heard a report from a recent attendee who had colostomy surgery two weeks ago, and is doing well and looks forward to coming to our June meeting.
What Happened at our April 14th Meeting
We met at 7 p.m. in the Depaul Conference Room at O' Connor Hospital. Thirty-two people attended the meeting, including four people who were here for the first time. One new attendee was Al who had colostomy surgery in January.
Shelley Goldblum from Hollister was at our meeting to share the latest developments from Hollister and to answer any questions we had about their ostomy products. Shelley has twenty-five years of experience working for the Hollister Company. She led a very good question and answer session helping people who had special needs and problems.
After Shelley's presentation had the chance to respond to a number of other questions that were brought to us by our attendees.
What happened at our March 10th Meeting
We met at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10, at O'Connor Hospital's Sister Rosalie Rendu Conference Room.
Paul Masquelier, who designed and maintains our web site, made a short presentation on how you can use the web site as a resource for your own recovery and self care. The rest of the meeting was devoted to responding to issues brought by visitors to the meeting. We had three visitors who just recently had their surgery, and one person who is about to have surgery.
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