Left to right: M. Calabrò, SUI; E. Grohmann, GER; M. Kirnbauer, AUT; R. Bous, LUX.
There are currently 19 regional ostomy self-help groups in Austria, around half of them are members of the Austrian ILCO umbrella organisation; the rest exchange information on a rather informal basis. During the reporting period, one group disbanded due to ageing, while three new groups were founded in Salzburg and Lower Austria. Young ostomates exchange information more or less virtually via WhatsApp in their separate group, overcoming national borders. The regional groups are completely independent – even financially. Most groups organise monthly meetings or send out a newsletter. They share information about living with a stoma, ostomy care, medical and legal issues, etc. The groups invite experts to speak and give personal advises for newly affected people and relatives.
The Executive Board is elected by the members, i.e. the regional groups, and until the end of January 2024, it was comprised by Chairwoman Margarethe Kirnbauer, her Deputy Hans-Rainer Offenhuber and Secretary Susanne Deimel-Engler. February 2024 marked a restructuring phase where the leading positions were reassigned, following with the appointment of Hans-Rainer Offenhuber as a chairman and two new deputies: Christiane Andexer and Martina Salchegger. This restructuring phase has not been fully completed.
Our ILCO magazine is published twice a year. It has a print run of 4,000 copies, around 600 of which are distributed free of charge to all ostomy self-help groups. The remaining copies are made available to hospitals, ostomy therapists, ostomy suppliers, etc. to provide information to those people affected. Since autumn 2016, our magazine has been published in a new design and all issues can be downloaded as PDFs from our website www.ilco.at. Key topics include reports from the regional groups, medical articles and other articles where people share their life experience as ostomates in terms of work, family and sport, etc.
The Austrian ILCO was founded in 1975 and will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Further information can be obtained from our website www.ilco.at. In autumn 2022, the German ILCO celebrated its 50th anniversary, which was the occasion for a meeting of the German-speaking countries Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Luxembourg.
Since the last World Ostomy Day – see WOD 2021 in Vienna – some improvements were achieved:
– Access to a free EuroKey is now easier as no additional medical assessment is required, as is the case in Switzerland and Germany, for example.
– Toilets for handicapped persons must be equipped with an additional mirror and shelf, as well as wall hooks for a care bag or clothes. This improvement has been made mandatory in the Austrian Standards ÖNORM B 1600 and has also been included in the equipment guidelines of the national motorway infrastructure operator. Full implementation will take some time, but the first rest areas are already following our proposals, which are also an advantage for other groups of disabled people.
– In addition, ÖNORM B 1600 now includes the subcategory “people with other disabilities”, e.g. people with an ostomy. The former categorization addressed mainly wheelchair users, sight and hear-impaired people.
Additional mirror and shelf / Additional mirror and shelf
At the Austrian Standards / ÖNORM B 1600
Now it’s time to leave.
I have been active in various roles in the Austrian ILCO for 45 years, including the last 22 years in the ILCO umbrella organisation. In addition to being Secretary and Editor of the ILCO magazine my duties also included taking care of international contacts. Together with Margarethe Kirnbauer, I was invited to attend several EOA congresses and I was in charge of the board
election at the 2022 online congress. The personal meetings over the past two decades have made a significant and valuable contribution to deepening our relations and exchanging experiences with our neighbouring countries. For example, the 40th anniversary of the Austrian ILCO was celebrated in the presence of 13 foreign delegations.
For personal reasons, I have resigned from all my duties in the ILCO umbrella organisation at the end of May 2024. I bid a very cordial farewell to my dear colleagues in the member associations of the EOA, with whom I have been in close contact for decades. Together, we have stood up for our organisations and for the ostomates in our countries, supported each other and maintained good relationships.
I will continue to be active in my regional ostomy group in Lower Austria and contribute to the realisation of future projects.
Kind regards and best wishes for the EOA’s future.
Susanne Deimel-Engler, June 2024
