The 20–40 Ostomy Group of Calgary

Calgary’s first 20–40 Ostomy Group started in early 2004. This group plays a impor­tant role giv­ing sup­port to new and old Osto­m­ates. The reg­u­lar Cal­gary Ostomy Soci­ety (COS) meet­ings are very infor­ma­tive, yet some of the younger Osto­m­ates felt that they needed more inti­mate smaller safe groups in order to share. Research was done, and the Cal­gary 20/40 group was cre­ated.

These monthly meet­ings are held in member’s homes. Atten­dance is open to all or any Osto­m­ates with the empha­sis on issues fac­ing 20 — 40-year-olds. First time com­ers do not need to be mem­bers. How­ever, if one feels that they are get­ting any­thing out of the meet­ings, they are encour­aged to join the Cal­gary Ostomy Soci­ety. Join­ing the COS soci­ety shows the United Ostomy Asso­ci­a­tion of Canada how many mem­bers are in the com­mu­nity and what kind of events and activ­i­ties Cal­gary will need. So we encour­age any­one who feels they are ben­e­fit­ting from the meet­ings to become mem­bers.

These smaller more inti­mate groups pro­vide a safe/comfortable place to laugh, cry and share infor­ma­tion. One con­nects with peo­ple with sim­i­lar life expe­ri­ences build­ing true friendships.

Meet­ings have top­ics which are rel­e­vant to past con­ver­sa­tions or participant’s needs and desires. Like sex­u­al­ity, preg­nancy, altered body image, sports and fit­ness, dat­ing, cloth­ing, travel, diet and more.

If you live in the Cal­gary, (Alberta, Canada) area, would like to attend a meet­ing, or are inter­ested in more infor­ma­tion, please visit the fol­low­ing link for the lat­est meet­ing dates and con­tact information:

Cal­gary 20–40 group

For other areas, visit:

the United Ostomy Asso­ci­a­tion of Canada, or the

Inter­na­tional Ostomy Association