My Scope of Practice: Village Mentality

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.  — Henry Ford

Similar to the African proverb that states, “It takes a village to raise a child,” Sue Rose, BSN, RN, CWOCN (photo) knows it not only takes an entire wound ostomy continence (WOC) nurse community to care for, educate, and support persons with WOC concerns, but also that this community depends on its own, particularly the WOCN Society, to achieve clinical and professional goals.

Sue wanted to be a nurse since she was a child. “I knew I wanted to be a nurse from the time I was in the sixth grade,” she says. “My mother was a proud registered nurse, and I knew I wanted that kind of career.” She graduated in the top 10% of her undergraduate class in 1984 from the University of Arizona and earned her Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing. In 1987, she attended the Tucson Medical Center Enterostomal Nurse Education Program (TMC-ETNEP), where she says she found her true calling as a Certified Enterostomal Therapy Nurse — now called a Certified Wound Ostomy Continence Nurse (CWOCN).

A founding member of the Tucson (AZ) Affiliate of the WOCN Society (TWOCN), Sue has been an integral part of the area’s WOC nursing community for more than 15 years. She has served as President, Treasurer, conference coordinator, and Secretary. “I am now considered an ‘old timer’ in the TWOCN,” she says. “I hold all the history of our group.” Sue shares how the TWOCN started: “While I was working at a home care agency, Art Shedlock, a Coloplast Corp (Minneapolis, MN) representative, encouraged me to gather the WOC nurses in Tucson for a meeting. So in 1998, the Tucson WOC nurses met for lunch, a brief clinical presentation by Art, and networking. Eventually, the Tucson Affiliate of the WOCN was formalized to better care for WOC patients in Southern Arizona.” This organization supports established and new WOC nurses, providing them with monthly educational sessions, networking, and a multitude of other benefits; provides funds to help defray the cost of WOCN school for members; and subsidizes the cost of sending the affiliate president to the National WOCN conference.

In addition to being a founding member of TWOCN, Sue also brought the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona (DBSA) (see Sidebar) into the TWOCN fold. “In September 2014, I was asked to construct a banner for DBSA,” she says. “The Executive Director was a friend of mine, and she knew I could sew.” As a gesture of gratitude, Sue and her family were invited to the twentieth anniversary of the Diaper Bank and Diaper Need Awareness Week in Tucson — in part to help unveil the banner she had created. As Sue listened to the speeches, she discovered what the Diaper Bank was truly about. “The first speaker noted a reliable supply of clean diapers was a necessity for the health and welfare of infants and toddlers and for disabled persons and seniors needing incontinent supplies. This caught my attention — I did not know the Diaper Bank was helping the same population I had been trying to help as a CWOCN. I knew I had to get this information out.”

Sue addressed the TWOCN about becoming involved with the Diaper Bank to create a “Continence Synergy” and make a difference in the lives of those living in poverty and with incontinence. She researched the Diaper Bank’s statistics on adult incontinence supplies and needs, which revealed in 2014 the Diaper Bank was only able to collect and distribute 42% of the requested incontinence supplies. “When I presented what I learned about the DBSA, our membership immediately voted to help. We used $1,000 from our treasury to purchase adult disposable briefs. One of our members brokered a deal with a manufacturer for purchase of the briefs at cost so more products could be donated. Then our TWOCN President met with the Executive Director of the Diaper Bank and myself to see what more the TWOCN could do.” The  Executive Director of the Diaper Bank gave the TWOCN a list of things they needed: a continence fact sheet for distribution to the Diaper Bank partners, articles for a Diaper Bank blog, a TWOCN member to volunteer at their office to request donations and help at diaper drives at public facilities, and ideas for a health care board member to determine the types of grants they could apply for. Then the TWOCN went to work.

Many TWOCN members jumped into action. “Karen Lou Kennedy-Evans, RN, FNP, APRN-BC agreed to sit on the Board of Directors for the Diaper Bank,” Sue says. “She also donated several fact sheets written at a nonclinical level for distribution to Diaper Bank clients. I wrote a 1-page Incontinence Fact sheet with general information related to incontinence for partnering agencies to use when interacting with their clients. Joyce Norman, RN, CWOCN, DAPWCA pledged a monthly supply of adult briefs; she also posted a blog on proper fitting of adult briefs. Many of the TWOCN members who volunteered have posted blogs related to a variety of incontinence topics. Debbie Ohlrich, RN, CWCN volunteers weekly to make community outreach calls requesting diaper drives from corporations, schools, and clubs. The individual TWOCN members have taken many more actions to support the Diaper Bank. The TWOCN is committed to getting the word out regarding the DBSA.”

Through her actions as a WOC nurse, founding member of the TWOCN, and central player in helping the DBSA, Sue has demonstrated the value of coming together as a society to help patients with wound, ostomy, and continence issues feel happy, healthy, and cared for, as well as for colleagues to experience the fulfillment and satisfaction of achieving personal, professional, and societal goals — so important to the TWOCN and this scope of practice.

A Brief Diaper Bank History

In 1994, a small consulting firm wanted to give back to the community over the holidays. Aware no public assistance was available for diapers for persons living below the poverty level, the company began collecting diapers for a local crisis nursery. Firm employees recognized an inadequate supply of diapers put children at risk for skin problems and dehydration when families tried to lengthen diaper wear time. More importantly, they recognized a crying baby with a soiled diaper and skin irritation increased an already stressed family’s anxiety level, increased economic pressures, and created athe risk for domestic violence. This was the beginning of the Diaper Bank. In 2000, the Diaper Bank of Southern Arizona (DBSA) became a freestanding organization.

Almost from the beginning, the Diaper Bank began receiving requests for adult-sized products. It began collecting and distributing adult disposable briefs, acknowledging incontinence is a growing concern for seniors and adults with disabilities. They also realized incontinence further isolates seniors and persons with disabilities living in poverty. The DBSA serves as the model for almost all of the 240 diaper banks across the United States. For more information about diaper banks in your area or starting a diaper bank, please contact the National Diaper Bank Network at: natonaldiaperbanknetwork.org.