Hernia Belt...STAT!

With 46 million Americans without health insurance and unemployment at 9.6% it is no wonder that Ostomy patients without resources are becoming more prevalent and presenting challenges to our everyday ostomy practice.  One of the problems encountered in my practice is peristomal  hernias. With increased co-morbidities combined with the 30% rate of hernia formation in ostomates, it is no wonder that the need for hernia belts in my stoma practiced has increased.  Even if a patient is a candidate for surgical  hernia repair then there is prophylactic application of a belt to hopefully not be one of the 29-40% of patient's that fail after repair. So what do we do with the surgeon who has a last minute idea for a hernia belt? We could explain that the process can take sometimes take months to navigate the insurance maze to have one paid for, we might tell him that the belt might cost what is equal to one weeks groceries for that patient, or maybe we can just fashion one out of an abdominal binder? In my practice I care for non-funded patients, I have used this easy technique to fashion many support binders so I wanted to share this technique with my colleagues.