OSTOMY AWARENESS DAY

Hand’s up who knows what a stoma is?

If you’d asked me this question about a decade ago, I wouldn’t have had a clue.

Granted I work in healthcare marcomms but I’m still confident that many more people now know what a stoma bag is than did 10 years ago.

Why is this? Because of the sterling work done by ostomates (people who have stomas) and the healthcare providers, charities and companies that support them, to raise awareness.

The first Saturday in October is Ostomy Awareness Day, a global celebration of life with a stoma and a chance to raise awareness. With the day in mind, we wanted to celebrate all the fantastic ostomates we’ve met through our work over the last decade with companies such as Alliance Pharmaceuticals and CliniMed SecuriCare.

The infamous and fabulous Sam Cleasby was arguably the trailblazer in Ostomate influencers with her blog So Bad Ass. Today they are a plethora of highly regarded and influential ostomates and organisations – many of whom have supported us in client campaigns over the years.

Since 2019 we’ve been working with a number of stoma patient advocates and influencers to produce filmed assets, case studies, ebooks, guides, podcasts, leaflets and posters for CliniMed. CliniMed distributes a range of innovative medical products for stoma, continence & wound care, and its sister company SecuriCare Medical offers a home delivery service and a network of nationwide qualified stoma care nurses.

Both CliniMed and SecuriCare are passionate about education and advise for both HCPs and consumers. While their products are mainly subscription only, the value-added information and peer-to-peer advice they disseminate via their websites, social channels, magazine and enewsletters is invaluable.

With the unfortunate rise in the number of people, particularly younger people, suffering from inflammatory bowel problems such as IBS, Crohn’s and Colitis, being able to access advice and support online has never been more important. We’ve helped CliniMed to be included in conversations online, and provide a wealth of advice and information, alongside wonderful celebrity ostomates, influencers with stomas, charities and organisations such as Colostomy UK, Crohn’s and Colitis UK and Get Your Belly Out.

Check out our stoma showreel here.

Although stoma awareness has certainly improved over the last 10-15 years, World Ostomy Day is still much needed to ensure awareness remains high and ostomates are celebrated and supported.

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