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Friends of Ostomates
Worldwide Canada

WWW.FOWC.CA


Volume 11 No.3 Spring 2014



GOALS AND OBJECTIVES





OFFICERS AND
DIRECTORS
President
Lorne Aronson, ON

Vice President
Richard Olley, ON

Treasurer
Rosemary Gaffray, MB

Secretary
Lorrie Pismenny, MB


DIRECTORS

Di Bracken, ON
Pat Cimmeck, AB
Jean-Pierre Lapointe, QC
Ruth Kenney,NS
Paula Nixon,ON

John Molnar,ON
Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada endeavors to improve
the quality of life of people with ostomies and assist in educating
their caregivers in countries where the latest technology is not
available.
Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada works in cooperation
with the International Ostomy Association in shipping products.


For those that do not know Mike, he is the one who when the call comes in to
organize a pack, sort and repack, he is the go to guy. Mike orders the tables (8-
10)has them all set-up and ready to go. Mike gets the unsorted skids to the
warehouse, so that when the volunteers get there we can begin on time.
Mike also organizes the lunch graciously provided by Hollister where Mike is an
employee. He along with other volunteers sorts and packs. All this always takes
place on full Saturday 9AM to 4PM.
Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada thank Michael Durey for his
dedication both professionally and personally over the past 25 years helping
ostomates Worldwide live a better life.

FOWC recognizes Michael Durey

Mike has been involved with our organization since
1990. Since that time Mike has won the Allan
Porter Award in 1998 and most recently a Lifetime
Achievement recognition.

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PRESIDENTS MESSAGE





I want to take this opportunity to thank Pam Mayor and staff of Lakeside Medicine Centre in Kewlona British Columbia for their
help.

On May 10, Lakeside held its annual ostomy day and they took donations and matched what was given. A total of eight hundred
Dollars was donated to Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada.

It is only through these generous individuals can FOWC continue to send shipments to those countries where the for ostomy
equipment is needed!

We held a packing in May and with the help of 30 volunteers, 11 of whom where under the age of 18. We were able to put together
a total of almost 3 skids of product which is destined for Kenya. As well we presently have product that is going to Tanzania and we
have had a request from Cuba for supplies as well as Mongolia. That said we will be investigating what our options are for securing
supplies to these countries. We always are cognizant of making sure that we have the proper contacts in the countries we send
supplies to.

On page 4 the report from Stoma World Kenya is informative and interesting!
As well their report on what they have achieved and continue to do in the community is on page 7.

All this just shows the important work that FOWC continues to do!


Again I thank all the volunteers who help on the various sort and pack days, I know how tough a job it is!

As well I thank all monetary donors for their help in making sure we have the funds to send supplies.
Please see the last page of this newsletter if you would like to help with a donation









Lorne



S. H. A. R. E.

SENDING HELP AND REHABILITATION EVERYWHERE

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IN MEMORIUM







Norma Stringer 1924-2014
Norma Stringer passed away in April 2014 in Collingwood ON, at the age of 90 years. She was born near Lake
St. Peter ON, and lived most of her life in Ontario. She was a sales representative for Hollister Limited from
1960 until her retirement in 1976, covering at various times most of Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Her experience with Hollister led her to become one of the original supporters of the SHARE program
(Sending Help and Rehabilitation Everywhere) which was the forerunner of Friends of Ostomates Worldwide
(Canada). Beginning in 1982, with the late Maria Siegl, for many years Norma helped sort and pack surplus
ostomy supplies to be sent to countries where there was little or no support for people with ostomies. She
worked tirelessly to encourage individuals and chapters to become members of FOW (Canada). Norma was
awarded the Allan Porter Memorial Award in 1993 in recognition of her long term work with and support of
FOW (Canada).



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REPORT ON OSTOMY SUPPLIES

The story began over 10 years ago when our Patron Mr. Lawrence Gichini started writing proposals overseas
looking for help for the needy ostomates in Kenya. It was after several e-mail exchanges that he finally got
Friends of Ostomates Worldwide - Canada who responded positively to his request and committed to give
support.






Lawrence Gichini Stoma World Kenya Di Bracken FOWC

For the past 4 years; members of Stoma World Kenya have received a continuous supply of different ostomy
appliances twice a year from Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada (FOWC)








These supplies are costly to ship to Kenya just over Canadian $4,500.00** approximately Kes 346,107.11 per shipment
and they send us two shipments a year! FOWC collects this money from their members. Supplies are collected from
across Canada stored at the warehouse at Hollister Canada and two other locations. When it comes time to pack,
groups of ostomates and volunteers from Alberta and Ontario as well as Hollister, take a whole day to pack the supplies
and arrange the boxes on skids ready to ship to Kenya. It takes a few days to get the shipment to the shipper and deal
with the paper work. This is a lot of work for them but they just love it because they know that they are helping
ostomates who need support.

EDITOR NOTE: ACTUAL COST WAS CLOSER TO $5000
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We in Stoma World Kenya do recognize and appreciate the time spent, the effort put, the sacrifice and
resources of all the members in FOWC.
We are grateful to FOWC for their continued support in sending the ostomy supplies.

FOWC pays for the freight charges but the agony we have always had is with the Kenyan government tax
department. There has always been a clear indication from Canada that the ostomy supplies are
donation, but we still have to pay heavy taxes on the same.
We are however, talking to the authorities and hope to get a tax exemption letter soon. Meanwhile, members of
the group give small contributions during each meeting and all this is banked ready for any eventualities.
We cannot even try to imagine if we had to pay for the freight charges!






We are grateful to the Aga Khan hospital Nairobi for providing us with a room to keep the bags
and also a hall for our meetings and distribution of the supplies to our members each month.
Di Bracken has a passion for Ostomates and she organized a training through the Visitor Program
out of which 20 Ostomates from different regions were trained in December 2012 and they have
continued to use these skills during their home and hospital visits.
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During this time, Di spent time with the Ostomates and also made visits to Kenyatta hospital to see and
support those who were hospitalized.
We pray to God to bless the work of their hands as they continue with the work to help ostomates in our
country.

From Kenya we say,






THIS REPORT WAS REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION FROM STOMA WORLD KENYA














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Stoma World Kenya is a support group of Ostomates living in various counties in a beautiful country called Kenya
located in Eastern part of Africa. The group was formed in August 2010 and has continued to be involved in varies
activities in support of ostomates to achieve their goal which is For the highest quality of life of Ostomates.
Psycho-social support meetings are held each month at the Aga Khan
University hospital in the capital city Nairobi.


Photos taken during group meetings:





Topics discussed during support group meetings
This year we have had facilitators talk on:-
Donor relations.
Group constitution.
Importance of having National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) card.
Funeral Funder Insurance.
Presentation skills.
Acceptance & Disclosure.










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Packing of ostomy appliances ready for distribution

Members from the group volunteer to come to the store at the Aga Khan hospital two weeks before the meeting day to
pack the appliances.

The appliances are also packed and distributed to other regions of the Country. These regions are:- Machakos, Embu,
Meru, Eldoret, Kisumu, Nyeri, Kijabe.


These are some of the photos taken

















Distribution of ostomy appliances during group meetings

Each member gets 30 pieces of colostomy bags to last them a month. Sometimes more is given to a
member depending on how far they come from or if they are going through radiation and have side
effects e.g diarrhea.

A comment from one of the groups:
Dear Lawrence
We appreciate your constant supply of colostomy bags to our facility which have saved our patients from
use of plastic paper bags. Your support has been felt all over Machakos County and even within Makueni
and Kitui Counties where over 3 million people live. Being a semi-arid region with scarcity of food and
other basic commodities, the affected families use their little incomes to meet these basic needs rather
than buy colostomy bags for their loved ones as before- thanks to Stoma World, Kenya.
''I thank Stoma World, Kenya for provision of bags (Colostomy) which are of very high quality, they
have comforted my life since I was operated", said a patient suffering from Anal-rectal cancer.
Thank you

Elijah M. Moni
Head Machakos palliative care unit
Machakos level 5 hospital

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Some of the photos taken during distribution:

Home & Hospital visits

Some members of the group who were trained in December 2012 in the Visitors Program use the skills they
gained; during home and hospital visits. A total of 122 visits were made in the year 2013.



The new ostomates are shown how to place the bag on the stoma. They are educated on stoma issues and also
allowed to ask as many questions as they would. Questions that the home visitor cannot answer are referred to the
stoma nurse.

A team of 7 visited the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret in January to attend one of their support group
meetings.







Involvement with other Cancer Organizations

This year Stoma World Kenya had opportunities to be involved with other organizations during their different activities
namely:-
Africa Cancer Foundation Seeks to mobilize resources, carry out research, create awareness and provide services for
the prevention, management and treatment of cancer in Africa. The Foundation celebrated their 3
rd
anniversary and
Stoma World Kenya members volunteered during the event to give information on colorectal cancer.
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Product Donation Criteria

Only unused ostomy products can be accepted. Do not include liquids. Pack supplies in
cartons weighing less than 18 kgs (40 lbs) each. Include your name and address on
both the inside and outside of your parcel. Please label the cartons clearly and send
them to the nearest collection centre.
Please send donations in cartons which can be handled by one person.
If possible, please do not remove product from its original box or package, as it is then difficult
to sort and match properly.

If product is removed from its original packaging, please do the following:

put it in a plastic bag with the label from the end of the box showing the brand, size,
and product number (see photo below)
do not mix sizes or brands in the same plastic bag

Please DO NOT send the following, as we cannot forward these overseas:

Liquids or aerosols Soiled
products Syringes
Prescription or other over the counter medications Partial
tubes of ostomy paste
Partial bottles of ostomy powder




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DONATION COLLECTION
CENTRES

Donations of Ostomy products from Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia,
New Brunswick P.E.I, Newfoundland can be sent to:

Richard Olley
1266 MonksPassage
Oakville, ON L6M 1R4
Donations of Ostomy products from Saskatchewan, Alberta and
British Columbia can be sent to:


CB Medical
3900 106 Ave SE
Calgary, AB T2C 5B6












Donations of money gratefully appreciated:

Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada
C/O Lorrie Pismenny
#1101- 80 Snow
Winnipeg MB R3T 0P8
We send a receipt for any amount donated


Communicating by mail can be sent to:
344 Bloor Suite 501, Toronto ON M5S 3A7






Communicating by email
lornea@fowc.ca
richardo@fowc.ca
lorriep@fowc.ca
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We recognize and thank the following individuals and business for
Ostomy Product Donations


Shoppers Drug mart #2214 Ms. Ruth Kenney Mrs. Christine Dudley
1965 Columbia Avenue
Castlegar BC V1N 2W8
Mr. B. Bickle Mrs. Minerva Holton

Shoppers Home health Shoppers Home Health Ms. Roberta Tocci
528 Lawrence Ave. West 17725 Yonge Street
Toronto ON M6A 1A1 Newmarket ON L3Y 7C1 Ms. Pamela Fogul

00S Medical FamiliPrix Lawtons Drugs #845
60 Shorting Road 1556 Montarville 965 Bedford Highway
Scarborough ON M1S 3S3 St. Bruno QC J3V 3T7 Bedford NS B4A 1A9

Starkman Surgical Supply Inc. Uniprix #436485 Lawton Drugs #2565
1243 Bathhurst Street 1920 5ime Avenue 26 North Street
Toronto ON M5R 3H3 Shawinigan-Sud QC G9P 1N4 Bridgewater NS B4V 2V6


Southwest Nova Scotia Ostomy Sudbury and District Ostomy Fort Frances Clinic Dispensary
4266 Highway 1 3474 Falconbridge Highway 301 Victoria Avenue
Woodvale NS B5A 5B1 Garson ON P3L 1E5 Fort Frances ON P9A 2C1

King Laser Products Inc. Howe Sound Pharmacy Lawton Drugs # 112
513 Water Street 208-1100 Sunshine Coast 7071 Bayers Road
Yarmouth NS B5A 1M3 Gibson BC V0N 1V7 Halifax NS B3L 2C2

Shoppers Home Health Shoppers Drug Mart Lawton Drugs # 2557
5230 Dundas Street West 595 South Pelham Road 407 MacIntyre Avenue
Etobicoke ON M9B 1A8 Welland ON L3C 3C7 Montague PE C0A 1R0

Lawton Drugs Lawton Drugs # 810 Best Buy Medical
11 Elizabeth Avenue 496 Top Sail Road 509 Main Street
St. Johns NL A1A 1W6 St. Johns NL A1E 2C2 Shediac NB E4P 2C4

WE STIRVE TO BE AS ACCURATE AS POSSIBLE, IF YOUR NAME HAS BEEN ADVERANTLY LEFT OUT, PLEASE LET US KNOW
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DONOR / MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION FOR FOW CANADA

Yes, I would like to improve the life of ostomates by becoming a member
Individual $30.00 Individual Patron $50.00 Corporate $100.00
Corporate Patron$250.00
Chapter, Group or Association - $1.00 per member to a maximum of $150.00

Please accept my donation of $

Name:

Address:

City: Province: PC:

Phone: E-mail:

FOW Canada is a self supporting association which requires your continued assistance in raising the funds
required to cover the cost of shipping surplus ostomy products to the countries where the need is most urgent.
Official receipts for tax purposes are issued for all cash donations, regardless of the amount.

Friends of Ostomates Worldwide Canada C/O Lorrie Pismenny
#1101- 80 Snow Winnipeg MB R3T 0P8
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COUNTRIES WE HAVE SHIPPED TO:





Algeria

Chile Cuba Panama

Ukraine Argentina India Columbia





Philippines
Kenya
Tanzania Nepal