Welcome to Innovation by you!

Innovation by you is an online community about ostomy and continence care issues.

Here people who have similar health care issues innovate along with experts from our sponsor, Coloplast. We find new ways to handle daily issues related to specific ostomy and continence care issues – you can even help us create new and better products!

How does it work?
How does it work? Simply join us, share your ideas and experience, take part in our discussions and design your own products. The ostomy part of the community is two years old (former Stoma-Innovation) whereas the continence part is brand new.

Personal member data will not be shared outside the community without the agreement of the member.

Join us and let’s make a difference together!

Greetings from
The Community administrators

Who is this community for?

Our community is for people with ostomy or continence issues but their relatives, care-givers and other interested parties are also welcome.

Here are the most common reasons for these conditions.

An ileostomy, colostomy or urostomy
can be caused by
  • Cancer of the large intestine, rectum and anus
    (predominant cause)
  • Crohn’s disease: an inflammatory condition of
    the intestinal wall that causes swelling and the
    formation of ulcers
  • Trauma from e.g. car accidents
  • Congenital defects
Continence issues can be caused by
  • Spinal Cord Injury
  • Multiple Sclerosis
  • Spina Bifida
  • Urological disorders
    (e.g. prostate cancer or
    enlarged prostate)

The community is run by people who use
stoma and continence care products
themselves.

Why are we here?

We want to improve daily life for people with a stoma or continence issues which cover both bladder and bowel management.

This is more than talking about it. It’s about doing something practical.
– Richard
Don’t be afraid, don’t feel alone – join us for an informative and supportive network.
– Junie
There is nobody who understands what having an ostomy is all about…
except another ostomate. Here you will be able to share all your fears
and doubts along with solutions and tips with people who do understand.
– Doody

Challenges

We can’t reach our goal of finding better care solutions and making innovative products alone – so please take part in our challenges!

Innovation: This is what our community is all about! You are the expert and we need your ideas and experience to find the solutions of tomorrow.

We do that by challenging you to solve specific issues related to your condition.

This is your chance to be creative and share your expertise!

You can browse our challenges, add your ideas to the active ones, or get inspiration from ended challenges.

Each challenge is specific to a certain care topic and may be suggested by either our sponsor or by you, our members. The challenges are moderated by people with personal knowledge of ostomy or continence care products.

Forums

There are several forums in which you can contribute with
your ideas and suggestions.

The News Forum. Here we make announcements and you can post your own suggestions for news features and website links.

The Continence and Ostomy Talk Forums. The Continence Talk Forum is for members with bladder or bowel control issues, while the Ostomy Talk Forum is for members with ostomy issues. In both forums we encouraged you to start new topics or post replies to existing topics.

Our Community. Here you can read and learn more about our community site and its offerings to the members.

The Members’ Forum. Here you can post a new topic and tell others about yourself.

Important Messages. In here you find important messages about our community written by our moderators and administrators..

Tips & Tricks

Looking for advice? Or do you have a fantastic tip to make life easier? Visit our Tips & Tricks section.

In Tips & Tricks you find peer-to-peer advice on how to solve problems in your everyday life.

It’s simple to use: Just submit your description of an unsolved problem and wait for fellow members to come with their suggestions on how to solve it. You can also give the answer yourself and thus help others if you have valu

Only members who have signed up can post in the Tips & Tricks, but it is open for all to read and get inspired. Old Tips and Tricks from Stoma-Innovation.com will be transferred a little by little (manual work in order to get the right format).

VIP Rooms

The VIP Rooms are only for selected members who have shown a special interest in product development. Here, the medical devices of tomorrow come to life.

In these rooms, what we call Very Innovative People (VIPs) work closely together with our sponsor, Coloplast, on a range of confidential innovation projects.

The VIP activities include:
  • Designing and professionalizing prototypes
  • Making 3D models that are sent to our VIP teams
  • Distributing toolkits to support creativity

Your ideas come true

Along with our sponsor, our members have already developed a new product that will be launched and distributed through our community and under our own brand.

More information will follow soon.

Want to see only one area?

If you wish to see posts or information only related to either ostomy or continence issues, simply choose the desired area of interest.

You can do this in the Challenge, Forum, Tips & Tricks or VIP Rooms section, just click on one of the three options in the specific section pictured to the right.

When choosing a specific area, you filter out all information and posts relating to the de-selected area. You will still be able to see data covering and shared between both areas.