Brookings Health System

Ostomy Care

Brookings Health System's ostomy care services help people with ostomies, surgical openings that allow for the elimination of bodily waste. Patients who undergo ostomy surgery, whether temporary or permanent, require intensive, physical, and emotional care as well as continued support to return to their normal lives.

Related Info

What is an Ostomy? 

A close up of hands examining ostomy suppliesAn ostomy changes how urine or stool exits the body as part of a life-saving surgical procedure. Medical specialists reroute bodily waste from its usual path due to a malfunction of the digestive or urinary system. The opening created by the ostomy surgery is called a stoma. It is located on the abdomen with a pouch worn over it to collect stool or urine. 

An ostomy can be temporary or permanent. Common reasons for an ostomy include birth defects, cancer, diverticulitis, inflammatory bowel disease, incontinence, traumatic injury or other medical conditions. 

Common types of ostomies include colostomy, urostomy and ileostomy.

Ostomy Services

Patient care is provided on an inpatient or outpatient basis, including visits to home health eligible patients, by a certified wound ostomy nurse (CWON).

Ostomy services we provide include:

  • Evaluating and recommending pouching systems that provide containment and security for individual ostomates
  • Developing individual rehabilitation plans that help patients return to a productive lifestyle
  • Assisting in selecting pre-operative stoma sites to ensure post-operative independence
  • Offering patients and families education and care
  • Consulting with patients on a range of issues important to them

For more information or to ask for ostomy assistance, please call (605) 696-8068.