Robin Howe, BSN RN

Welcome to Continence Connection, a nurse-owned company dedicated to the advocacy for more than 30-million Americans and nearly 200-million people world-wide living with incontinence.

Our mission is to increase awareness about the causes, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management alternatives for incontinence through education and support. We genuinely care about the men, women and children whose lives are affected by incontinence every day. We are committed to helping people live with incontinence with self-confidence while contributing to removing societal stigmatization associated with the condition.

My name is Robin Phelan, Managing Director for Continence Connection. A graduate of University of Portland, Oregon, I have been a nurse for more than 12 years. I started my career in healthcare as a nurse assistant in long-term care when I was 15 years old. I always knew I wanted to be in a "helping" profession but when I graduated high school in 1981, I decided to pursue a degree photography, which I also enjoyed very much. In 1984, I earned an Associate of Science Degree in Photographic Technology. Albeit a short career path, I treasure photography as a hobby to this day.

My nursing career has led me through an array of wonderful experiences in long-term care, Hospice, Bereavement Counseling and Acute Care nursing. Most of my career experience was at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a teaching hospital in Boston. I was part of a float team and a rapid response team at MGH and in constant learning mode among some of the finest physicians and nurses in the world. MGH awarded me a scholarship to the Kenneth B. Schwartz Center where I earned a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. The program enhanced my ability to be a better "spiritual caregiver" at the bedside and broadened my understanding about diverse belief systems and how they affect individual coping processes.

As a nurse, I have had plenty of exposure to incontinence and how it influences the life of so many people. When I worked at MGH on the float team, I frequented the urology unit and found it fascinating. The various diseases, treatment options and surgical procedures intrigued me to learn more about the specialty. With medical technology always changing, I felt more and more confident that we would find the answers that would help decrease or resolve chronic incontinence.

I must say that it has broken my heart at times to watch individuals dealing with incontinence, often suffering in silence and shame. Despite the fact that incontinence is not a life-threatening condition, I have seen it still cause "loss of life" for so many people. For anybody whose life is impacted by incontinence, you know what I mean. Your self-confidence and self-esteem are often inhibited and you may have even passed up special events or the perfect job because of your condition.

Continence Connection was founded from my passion to make a difference in the lives of the millions of people who are suffering with incontinence. One of those people happens to be somebody very close to me. I have watched him, with great sadness, struggle with incontinence his whole life. His self-confidence has gone down the tubes as a result of his condition and I long for him to feel good about himself despite incontinence.

In my journey to establish Continence Connection, I learned some startling facts. The fact that more than 30-million Americans are living with chronic incontinence and more than 200-million people world-wide are living with the condition. This is just mind boggling. These stats blew me away as did the thought that these numbers reflect only those people who actually reported their incontinence and not those who suffer in silence. To me this is incredibly sad and simply unacceptable. As a healthcare professional, I knew I could find a way to connect and serve this population by establishing Continence Connection, a company that will make a difference in the lives of many people.

I feel strongly about education and encouraging people to take charge of their health in a holistic manner. By holistic I mean taking care of your bio-psycho-social-spiritual self. I would like Continence Connection be a hands-on company that helps people make strides toward life balance and enrichment, peace, harmony, and self-worth. Furthermore, I would like to see that Continence Connection creates a momentum that will contribute to a positive and productive change in how society thinks about incontinence.

Please join me in celebration of Continence Connection!

Regards,

Robin ;)

Robin Howe, BSN RN
Continence Connection
141 Newburyport Turnpike
Suite 363
Rowely, MA 01969
888-356-6993