Hello everyone,
First of all, I want to thank everyone for coming to the meetings, either in person or over zoom. We were able to have great conversations about what everyone needs or wants from the group as an ostomate! We had TWO people celebrate their annual cancer free check up! Congratulations!
Here is a rundown of what we talked about and some opportunities to be more involved.
- There were some issues with emails not getting to some people on the list. Somehow Google had two separate contact lists and the most current one was not what was being used to send out the information. I think I have this fixed. I have reached out to the people I know were affected. If you know of someone who would like more information on the group, who isn’t receiving messages, please have someone email us and we’ll get them added.
- Bob Conroy is stepping up to help with social media so anticipate more engagement with our Facebook page and website. Thank you, Bob!
- Facebook: Heart of Iowa Ostomy Support Group
- Website: https://heartofiowaostomysupportgroup.org/ (updated)
- Jim Mikulanec is stepping up to help with some outreaches and email related things. You may be receiving emails (from this address) from Jim and not just Dan or I.
- There is interest in more social activities like dinners out, group walks, or other get-togethers.
- Starting next week we will begin a group walk at Merle Hat Mall on Tuesdays at 5:30pm. This will be a casual group walk, not intending to power walk the mall 😅. Open to anyone who wants to join. We will meet outside Target.
- We would love to hear about the good, the bad, and the ugly going on. Celebrating birthdays, anniversaries, annual cancer check ups? Did you travel somewhere? Did you break your leg (you know who you are! haha!). We want to hear about it so this great group of people can help support each other. As we heard last Sunday, not everyone has supportive family or friends, but that is what we are for ♥️♥️♥️
- What we still need: 1-2 more people to help with community outreach/growing the group. If you might be interested, shoot me an email and we’ll talk more.
- Meeting topics:
- We will not be doing a big Ostomy Education Day. Dan & I are working with some providers to see if we can piggyback off other events. We will keep you posted.
- There is a preference for meetings dedicated to a vendor so that everyone has more time to interact. We will be setting up meetings with the big 3 ostomy supply vendors (Convatec, Coloplast, Hollister). However there are LOTS of other vendors who want to meet with the group so I think (and this is just me spitballing) that we can set up a separate Zoom meeting just for some of these other vendors. Opinions?
- We are working on the following speakers this year: Dietician, Surgeons, PT/OT (Hernias!), Mental Health counselors, and a pharmacist.
- Upcoming meetings
- Meetings are held at the Urbandale Library from 3-4pm (unless otherwise noted). FYI we may shuffle some topics around as we confirm speaker availability.
- Is anyone good at making calendar invites for Apple & Google so that people can click it and add it to their calendar? I am not good at that and could use some guidance.
- Zoom link for all meetings is: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81557100947?pwd=oSD1Uo4NpbszwOlYE6J9aROnaexwXo.1
- March 2nd: Traveling with an ostomy.
- April 6th: Aging with an ostomy.
- May 4th: Peristomal skin care.
Holy Buckets Batman, that was a lot! Did I miss anything? Let me know if you guys have questions, comments, or anything else to share! We love hearing from everyone!
~Kelli & Dan