Hospital Marks Wound Care Awareness Week

HSHS St. Anthony’s Wound Healing Center, a member of the Healogics network, is helping raise awareness of chronic wounds.

The third annual Wound Care Awareness Week is being held from June 6 to June 10. One of nearly 800 Healogics-managed Centers, St. Anthony’s Wound Healing Center offers advanced therapies to patients suffering from chronic wounds. Program Directors across the nation will dedicate the entire week to educating physicians, patients and the general public about the chronic wound epidemic and the advanced wound care solutions.

It is estimated that chronic wounds affect 6.7 million people in the U.S. and the incidence is rising, fueled by an aging population and increasing rates of diseases and conditions such as diabetes, obesity and the late effects of radiation therapy. If left untreated, chronic wounds can lead to diminished quality of life and possibly amputation of the affected limb.

“We see patients living with non-healing wounds for a prolonged amount of time due to the lack of awareness of advanced wound care options,” said D. Scott Covington, MD, FACS, Chief Medical Director for Healogics. “We work to educate community physicians about which of their patients can benefit from advanced wound care, and then provide coordinated care to heal that patient’s wounds.”

People with wounds that have not improved with traditional methods of treatment may benefit from a visit to St. Anthony’s Wound Healing Center. The Wound Healing Center has been recognized nationally by Healogics for their clinical excellence and exceptional patient satisfaction for the past six years, ever since opening in 2010. The Wound Healing Center offers highly specialized wound care to patients suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections and other chronic wounds which have not healed in a reasonable amount of time. Advanced treatments included negative pressure wound therapy, bio-engineered skin substitutes, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, biological and biosynthetic dressings and growth factor therapies.

The Wound Healing Center cares for people that have wounds that have not begun to heal in two weeks or have not completely healed in six weeks. Patients can be referred by their family doctors or can refer themselves by calling St. Anthony’s Wound Healing Center to make an appointment at 217-347-3565.

Visit woundcareawareness.com to learn more about Wound Care Awareness Week and to hear from patients about how wound healing changed their life. For more information about St. Anthony’s Wound Healing Center, visit St. Anthony’s web site at stanthonyshospital.org.