The Peninsula Wound & Hyperbaric Center, a member of the Healogics network, located on the campus of Peninsula Regional Medical Center, is helping raise awareness of chronic wounds during the sixth annual Wound Care Awareness Week, being held from June 3 to June 7.
Wound Care Awareness was established by Healogics in 2014 to bring attention to the chronic wound epidemic and the 6.7 million Americans who are currently living with non-healing 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 available.
Peninsula Wound & Hyperbaric Center offers advanced therapies to patients suffering from chronic wounds, and recently achieved Center of Distinction status for achieving outstanding clinical outcomes for twelve consecutive months. “Wound Care Awareness Week is a time to build relationships and educate our referring providers both primary care and specialists about the resources available for their patient population suffering from chronic wounds. It is especially important to encourage early referral to help ease the suffering of those individuals with chronic and many times disabling wounds. Left unrecognized, this fragile population of individuals could go on to both loss of limb and premature mortality,” said Dr. James Burns, DO, CWSP, and Medical Director of the Peninsula Wound & Hyperbaric Center.
While there are already millions of people living with chronic wounds, 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. Even more alarmingly, 50 percent of people die within five years of amputation.
To support this underserved and growing population of people living with chronic wounds, Peninsula Wound & Hyperbaric Center, in partnership with Healogics, offers an evidence-based, systematic approach to advanced wound care. A patient’s individualized treatment plan may include specialized wound dressings, debridement, compression therapy, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, advanced cellular products and topical growth factors, edema management and/or non-invasive vascular assessment. These treatments are the result of a team approach between the Center’s physicians, nurses and the referring physician. A treatment plan is developed and scheduled based on the patient’s needs. Once treatment is complete, the patient will return to their primary physician to continue routine care.
People with wounds that have not improved with traditional methods of treatment may benefit from a visit to the Peninsula Wound & Hyperbaric Center.
Visit www.woundcareawarenessweek.com to learn more about Wound Care Awareness Week and to hear from patients about how wound healing changed their life. To schedule an appointment, please call 410-677-6605 or visit www.peninsula.org.
