Ileostomy and colostomy support groups.

Abstract

The first organized ostomy support group in the world was formed at The Mount Sinai Hospital, in 1950, through the efforts of a surgeon and the patients themselves. Later, similar groups were set up in other locations and some even took the name of Mount Sinai's first such society (QT). These groups had two major functions: Psychological: reassurance and understanding from other ostomates before and after the operation; advice on how to deal with oneself and others. Educational: instruction on the details of stoma management; information for surgeons on the proper location and other details of fashioning a stoma; information to the public on the existence and needs of ostomates. In order to extend services to more people and with more individual attention, a special clinic was established at The Mount Sinai Hospital devoted entirely to patients with ileostomy and colostomy. It too was the first of its kind anywhere. Years later, two surgeons arranged an all-day convention of the ostomy groups in the greater New York City, New Jersey, and Connecticut areas, at the New York Academy of Medicine. At the convention, the idea of a national society was conceived. In the following years - in Detroit, then Cleveland, and finally Los Angeles - the United Ostomy Association was developed, structured, and incorporated. The educational uses of the ostomy groups were later supplemented and partly replaced by enterostomal therapists who originally were trained and practiced in Cleveland. Now the therapists, the societies, and the ostomates themselves are available to patients with various types of stomas, whether recent or longstanding, before and after surgery.