2018 World Ostomy Day Seminar
Western Bay of Plenty Ostomy Society Inc

      

As a part of World Ostomy Day 2018 it was decided by the Executive of the Western BOP Ostomy Society that we would hold a seminar which would in the main be aimed at showing new and prospective Ostomates that there was a life after Ostomy and that they did not need to hide their Ostomies. This was held in a wonderful venue in Tauranga owned by the Legacy Trust named "Woodhill' and the 30 plus people who attended had a fantastic time. There were people attending from Western Bay of Plenty, Waikato, and Whakatane We had eight speakers including one recently returned international speaker along with the top Urologist in the BOP. Our first speaker being Kallia Patching who is a member of the FNZOS Executive, Kallia held the audience in the palm of her hand and was considered to be an outstanding speaker and she is well worth listening to if you ever get the chance. Debbie Strode spoke about her experiences nursing in the Middle East and the comparison with News Zealand, Barry Maughan stepped in at the last minute to help out when we had a speaker find that they were unable to make it and gave an entertaining talk not just on World Ostomy Day but on many of his experiences from his trips overseas when representing the Federation or the IOA.

Mike Savage gave a talk both on the history of the building "Woodhill" and also on Tauranga Rotary Club of which he is a past President, the club being one of our principle sponsors, Legacy Trust being the other. Mark Liddle from Hollister attended and not only had a range of Hollister and Dansac products on display but also spoke about his medical condition, Arthrogryposis Multiplex Congenita and the long march from birth to finding a solution to his problem in the USA.

Elizabeth Thompson from District nursing spoke about her job and how things are working out in the BOP.

Richard McNair spoke on the subjects of World Ostomy Day, the IOA, the Asia and South Pacific Ostomy Association, trips to both the Cape Town and KL World Council of Entrostomal Therapists Congresses

Our final speaker was Mark Fraundorfer who is a top NZ Urologist and he gave an excellent "after dinner" speech on the changes in medicine in Urology from the time that he started in medicine to the present day and again he had the audience in fits with some of his descriptions of techniques and the outcomes of some operations.

We managed to get an excellent article in the local paper about the seminar and this helped attract some attendees and well as doing a radio interview on Coast FM with Brian Kelly, all of which helped.

Richard McNair
Seminar Organiser.