Larry's Story

Hello fellow ostomates,

Since attending my first United Ostomy Association Convention in 1994 in Orlando, Florida I have met some of the kindest people in the world. It just so happens that this August 16th through 19th I will attend the United Ostomy Association Convention in St. Louis, Missouri with a friend I met for the very first time at a U.O.A. convention in Anaheim, California in August of 1997. Her name is Jane Hsu and she is from Taoyuan, Taiwan. After meeting Jane in August of 1997 I have had the good fortune of visiting Jane in Taiwan in March of 1998. At this time I would simply like to display a copy of an article taken from our chapter's April, 1998 Newsletter entitled Local Ostomate Visits Taiwan. Through my journeys on the Internet, I had the wonderful privilege to become friends with a remarkable young lady, Jane Hsu. Jane lives and works in Taoyuan, Taiwan. After much anticipation we finally met in person at the annual U.O.A. convention last year in Anaheim, California. After the U.O.A. convention, we left for Evansville via L.A. International airport. Shortly after we arrived home, we proceeded to take in all the sights in and around Evansville. And I can honestly say that she had a delightful time meeting all my family and friends while here in Evansville.

So this year, after receiving a special invitation over the phone from Jane's mother, I went to visit Jane and her family in Taiwan. It was a pure delight to meet Jane and her family, but it was also a fact of life that after flying 13 hours non-stop from Vancouver B.C. Canada to Taipei, Taiwan I was suffering from the proverbial "jet-lag". So I took it easy for a couple days getting my days and nights in order. After being in Taiwan for three days I went to visit Dr. Jeng Yi Wang for a scheduled meeting, arranged by my friend Jane Hsu. I visited Dr. Wang at the request of Linda Aukett, the Past President of the United Ostomy Association. Linda currently works with the International Ostomy Association and informed me that Dr. Wang was on the I.O.A.'s mailing list. Linda thought it would be beneficial for me and the I.O.A.to visit Dr. Wang while in Taiwan. So Jane and I met Dr. Wang in his office in Chang Gung Memorial Hospital where he is Professor and Chief of Colo-Rectal Surgery. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is a 3,000 bed hospital located just outside of Taipei, the capital of Taiwan. Taipei and Taoyuan counties in Taiwan are about equal in population to the Chicago, Illinois metropolitan area.

My goal in meeting Doctor Wang was to sell him on the idea of becoming the first International Ostomy Association member in Taiwan. Taiwan is an island nation of approximately 21 million people with a growing number of ostomates. Dr. Wang and his associates perform about 400 fecal ostomies per year. Most of these ostomy surgeries are performed on patients with colo-rectal cancer. Dr. Wang also informed me that Chang Gung Hospital had a support group for ostomates that met twice a year. In fact, I saw a neat little sign next to his office written in Chinese of course, telling about their next scheduled ostomy support meeting.

After Dr. Wang and I talked for about 15 minutes, he introduced me to the Chief E.T. Nurse, Ms. Wu. After chatting with Ms. Wu for a couple minutes I found out that she was educated in Enterostomal Therapy at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. She also informed me that she served her Internship in E.T. Nursing at the General Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan. After traveling 8,000 miles I found an E.T. Nurse that graduated from the same school of E.T. Nursing as our own fellow U.O.A. member Jenni Robertson from Welborn Hospital here in Evansville. It seems it is truly a "small world after all".

Ms. Wu showed me around a 120 bed section of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital set aside for Gastroentestinal patients. A portion of this section was set aside strictly for ostomy patients. I saw some of the male patients learning how to irrigate their colostomy. I saw other male patients learning basic ostomy management. Then Ms. Wu took me to another section where a male patient was having a colonoscope. Ms. Wu then showed me a display of all the different brands of ostomy supplies that her patients use. I saw the familiar Hollister and ConvaTec brands, as well as brands that were manufactured in Taiwan. From my brief visit in this large Taiwanese hospital I could truthfully say that their ostomy patients appeared to get as good a care as ostomy patients in the U.S.A.

This 45 minute visit with Dr. Wang and E.T. Nurse Ms. Wu might have been a brief segment of my 13 day stay in Taiwan, but it was significant enough for me to remember a long time. I made this visit to Doctor Wang's office as a favor for my friend Linda Aukett. In the process of doing her this favor I learned how ostomates are treated in another part of the world. I also learned that fellow ostomates might have different shaped eyes and a different color skin, but we all have very similar needs. In the process of doing my friend a favor, I did myself a favor by learning to appreciate fellow ostomates a world away.

Larry Trapp

Evansville Ostomy Association

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