AN ILEOSTOMY CLUB

Abstract

<h3>To the Editor:</h3> —In recent years heightened interest in the surgical treatment of ulcerative colitis has led to an ever-increasing group of patients with a permanent ileostomy. Most lay persons, as well as all too many physicians and surgeons, have a horror image of the constantly discharging intestinal stoma and frequently think, out of ignorance, that death is preferable to ileostomy. It is therefore extremely important for the person who has undergone ileostomy to have before him the evidence that adjustment can be made and the constant reminder that he is not so unfortunate as he might have imagined. Nothing is more effective in bolstering morale than the presence of happy persons with the same handicap carrying on normal existence, unabashedly attacking the specific problems that the handicap may cause. During the past one and one-half years at the Mt. Sinai Hospital we have had a club meeting once a