Byram Healthcare is proud to support the Awesome Ollie Bear Program. We began supplying Awesome Ollie Bears to kids between the ages of 4 and 10 in January of 2020. Ostomy surgery and living with an ostomy can be very complex and life-altering. It not only involves physical changes, but also the many emotions that come with feeling “different.” This is even more true when it involves children and their families. Dawnette Meredith, the creator of Awesome Ollie and proud owner of an ostomy herself, felt that it was vitally important to reach and provide comfort to these children and adults in a simple, fun way.
Along with providing the Awesome Ollie Bear, we include The Awesome Ollie Book. This colorful, engaging children’s book is for “ostomates” (that’s friends with ostomies) young and old, along with their siblings, friends, and anyone else to wants to learn with Ollie the Bear as he journeys through tummy troubles, surgery day, and onto the beginning of his new life with an ostomy “button.” Awesome Ollie Bear has an ostomy button (stoma) and bag of his own, who can cuddle, play, and help little hands practice and normalize the process of applying and removing the bag. With the bear and book together, all readers can enjoy the comfort of a shared experience and a warm hug.
Byram Healthcare is partnering with Awesome Ostomy to gift these Teddy Bears and books to our pediatric ostomy customers. It’s one more way we care for our customers.
