Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Blogger - Uncover Ostomy

Please join us in welcoming our latest Squirrel Blogger

Squirrel: Jessica Grossman
Chapter: Zeta Chi - The University of Western Ontario, Canada
Initiation Year: 2007
Current City: Toronto/London, Ontario, Canada
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Blog: Uncover Ostomy
Blog Categories: Ostomy, Health, Personal stories


Description:
The blog was created in a join effort with IDEAS [Intestinal Disease Education and Awareness Socity] to promote awareness for the ostomy. I [Jessica] created the concept [and later renamed] Uncover Ostomy for a grade 12 media project. The project was to pick an NPO and promote them. I chose ostomies because I have one myself. What is an ostomy?

An ostomy is a surgically created opening from an internal organ such as the intestines or ureters to an external point on the body, usually in the abdomen, so that diseased or damaged portions of the patients’ organ can be removed or treated for disease. The piece that is created to pass through from inside the body to outside is called a stoma. Bodily excretions such as stool, mucus and urine pass through the stoma into a special bag on the outside of the body that the wearer empties on a regular basis.

I use the blog to talk about the normalcy of an ostomy and the fact that I can live a normal life with one. I do blog about my ostomy including tips and tricks on how to manage it, but I mainly blog about my everyday life, especially being part of Alpha Gamma Delta. Tons of my blogs have been about recruitment, charity events, and becoming president of my chapter.

So far my blog has reached over 23,000 unique viewers and gets an average of 5,000 views a month.