Memorial Regional Hospital, our cherished sponsor, put our meetings on hold due to the corona virus. Unfortunately due to personal health issues I am no longer able to restart our face to face meetings. BOA will only maintain our website and provide telephone visitation attempting match surgery type, age group and gender if possible.
Zoom meetings are available through many other UOAA chapters. See www.ostomy.org or call 800-826-0826 for a list of resources.
Email contact at info@browardostomy.org will remain open without interruption and will be checked daily.
We extend a warm welcome to Broward Ostomy Association’s web site. We hope the information found here will be of great assistance to you and that we can provide comfort, education and reassurance to all those undergoing ostomy surgery. This form of surgery, as no other type, presents extra challenges to overcome as it entails potential misunderstandings by new ostomates themselves and by the general public.
Due to the early years when modern surgical appliances were not available, certain misconceptions about living with an ostomy remain to haunt us today. Only an ostomate can truly reassure another that these myths are in fact just that – myths. In reality ostomates do not have odor control problems, do not need to wear unsightly baggy clothes, do not need to give up previously enjoyed activities such as sports, intimate moments, swimming and bathing or travel. Life can and does return to normal. For example, one of our members has sailed around the world on a forty-foot sloop with no hot running water. Most all our members travel extensively. And I can assure you, most all of us are very romantic! Ostomates have children, work forty-hour weeks and wear becoming wardrobes. If you attended our meetings, which had an average attendance of over fifty people, you could not discern who is an ostomate and who are their friends and family.
We urge you to be encouraged by others who have journeyed down the same road. Let UOAA assist you to recapture the abundant life that your surgery has momentarily interrupted. Please be encouraged knowing that you are not alone. We’re here to help.
Wendy Lueder
President
Broward Ostomy Association
Shedding the light of hope, help and education for ostomates through visitation and rehabilitation. Broward Ostomy Association is an affiliated Chapter of the United Ostomy Associations of America, a non-profit organization for colostomates, ileostomates and urostomates.
