A COMMUNITY centre has become the first publicly owned building in the country to feature a stoma sink in its toilet, aiming to "pave the way" for more businesses to role them put nationwide.
Melrose Community Association in Abbey Road, Popley, a council-owned building, is the first of its kind to incorporate such a facility in its newly-refurbished disabled toilet.
At the opening on Tuesday, September 17, building manager Vicki Jackson excited to finally have the facilities completed and explained that her son helped to determine what was needed.
She said: "We found out we were receiving a grant from the council's Community Infrastructure Fund, and I saw it as an opportunity, seeing as we were gutting this room, to have a stoma sink put in.
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"My son has got an ileostomy, and the amount of times he has told me how unsuitable public facilities are for dealing with it, so I grilled him and said 'What do you want? What do you need?' so here we are."
Vicki highlighted the fact that the unique stoma sink is "groundbreaking," and hopes that Melrose can "pave the way" for more facilities like this to be "rolled out nationwide."
The specially designed room features a larger, square sink, complete with a showerhead for ease of access, as well as shelving to make it easier for users to store their belongings when changing their bag.
In attendance at the opening were Nathan Boyle, 32, and Becky Golder, 33, representing Chrohns & Colitis UK's Berkshire branch.
Nathan explained that when he changes his bag, he usually has to put his belongings on the floor, which is "far from ideal," however, the creation of facilities like this one, means he doesn't have to.
He said: "It will be a lot better for many people to have a facility like this, there are so many things that will benefit people with stomas.
"For example, the shelves, when I'm changing my bag I normally have to put all my belongings and clothes all over the floor, and it's far from ideal, but just having shelves is so helpful.
"I'm quite lucky in the fact that I'm quite tall, so the positioning of sinks hasn't really affected me, but for shorter people, and children, the shower head will be so useful."
Becky explained how the creation of these new facilities, here and "hopefully elsewhere," will "give people the confidence they need" to go out and about.
She said: "My mum, for example, there are days where she won't want to go out in case she has a 'leak'.
"We really want to raise awareness for people who may not realise they suffer from crohns or colitis, and we want to try and educate people who are unfamiliar."
The couple have their own Instagram account that documents their journey together called @thatidbcouple
James Turner, owner of Odiham Plumbing and Bathrooms, was the main contractor for the build.
He said: "After doing some research, I discovered that this is not just the only publicly owned building with a stoma sink in Basingstoke and Deane, not just in the South but from what I believe, it is the only one in the UK excluding airports."
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