Awareness week for
“Life’s little spills”
6 August 2008
Australians know what it’s like to experience “Life’s little spills” - loss of bladder or bowel control regularly affects nearly four million of us.
“Life’s little spills” is the awareness-raising campaign for this year’s Continence Awareness Week from august 3 to 9, according to Western District Health Service Continence Advisor Sue Frost.
The Continence Awareness Week will focus on problems experienced by children and mothers, Ms Frost said.
Incontinence is a very significant health problem for the Australian community – physically, socially, emotionally and financially, according to CEO of the Continence Foundation of Australia, Barry Cahill.
He said incontinence often showed itself as “small” problems that were too easily dismissed.
“The Continence Foundation encourages people to take Life’s little spills seriously and to seek professional help. When signs are dismissed as “just part of getting old” or “because I’ve had children” or “something children will grow out of”, an opportunity to prevent or reduce incontinence can be lost.”
“Many adults are unaware of the importance of the basics; how to sit on the toilet properly, what ‘regular’ actually means, how aspects of diet and fluid intake affect incontinence. They are not recognising constipation correctly, how toilet frequency and urgency, haemorrhoids or wind can be linked to control problems, or how medicines taken for other health conditions might cause or worsen their incontinence.”
Incontinence is never normal at any age – and life’s little spills will only get bigger!
The Continence Foundation urges anyone concerned about their own or their child’s bladder or bowel control to discuss it with a doctor, continence clinician, or one of the Continence Nurses on the National Continence Helpline (1800 330066). The Western District Health Service Continence Service may be contacted on 5551 8261.
Nurse Continence Advisors at Western District Health Service offer confidential, individual assessment and management of continence problems, including children with bladder and bowel problems.
The Continence Advisor will provide support and advice for families and carers of those who are incontinent, as well as product information.
The service is located in the Allied Health building at Western District Health Service and may be contacted Monday to Thursday 8am to 4.30pm by phoning 5551 8261.
BELOW: Continence advisors Ruth Fatone and Sue Frost.
