Emma campaigns for stoma friendly public toilets

A TINRYLAND woman has started a campaign to make public toilets in Carlow stoma friendly after she was fitted with a stoma earlier this year. If she is successful, Carlow will be the first stoma friendly county in Ireland.

Emma Hennessey (44) says that since being fitted with the device she became aware of how difficult it is to change or clean her stoma when in a public bathroom.

A stoma is an opening on the surface of the abdomen which has been surgically created to divert the flow of waste from the bowel.

According to Emma, many people who have been fitted with a stoma are afraid to leave their home because finding suitable public facilities can be so difficult. Having a stoma fitted is especially challenging as your bowel is an involuntary muscle, so people cannot predict when they might have a leak or spill.

Emma said that all a toilet needs to become stoma friendly is a shelf and mirror that are at hip height, the shelf to hold supplies and mirror so people can see what they’re doing.

So far, Emma has got a number of businesses to agree to make their toilets stoma friendly including Graiguecullen Swimming Pool, the Talbot Hotel, Dinn Rí, the Dolmen Hotel and Seven Oaks Hotel. Fairgreen Shopping Centre recently officially opened a stoma friendly toilet with the opening attended by cllr Paul Doogue and minister of state Jennifer Murnane O’Connor.

Minister Murnane O’Connor has also made the tpo in her constituency office stoma friendly.

A number of council buildings have also said that they will put in stoma friendly toilets including the New Oak Community Centre and Carlow library. Emma hopes that heritage sites like Duckett’s Grove and Altamont Gardens will upgrade their bathrooms to become stoma friendly so that people fitted with a stoma can enjoy a day out like anybody else.