The Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine is celebrating 20 years and renovating its office, but celebrations aren’t uncommon as they’re used to rejoicing as their patients hit milestones in their healing journey.
Over the past 12 months, the center has seen an 88% heal rate. One patient getting treatment is Harold Taylor. He said roughly 5 years ago, he had to get surgery because of a severe infection due to his diabetes.
“When I initially went in, the surgeons, they looked at it, and looked at one another, and all of the sudden they said we’ve got to do surgery,” he said. “So, I was like ‘ok.’ I had that hesitant look on my face, and he said ‘There’s nothing to think about. It’s life over limb’.”
Taylor said they removed his toes. The doctor warned him that there was a chance he could lose his leg as well. About halfway through his healing journey, he started going to the Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine.
“Even as I’ve been going through treatments here, keeping it real, Dr. Nioce has also mentioned that, and by the grace of God, we’ve not had to look at those options,” Taylor said.
Dr. Paul Nioce, the Medical Director of the wound care center, said they take a comprehensive look at the patient and why their wound isn’t healing. He said they build deep relationships with their patients, like the one they have with Taylor, because they see them frequently.
“It becomes a team effort. Not just the healthcare workers, but really getting the buy-in from the patients is really important to them achieving the goal. That’s one of the reasons why we do a lot of education because if the patient understands why you have the wound, why it is not healing, what are the things we need to do to get it to close, if they understand those things then they’re going to be much more likely to participate in their care and doing the things they need to do to help the team get their wound closed.”
Dr. Nioce said not only are they going to be able to see more patients as they went from four to eight rooms, but it’s also helped with the patient flow and environment.
“Healogics has provided new chairs that’s making it easier for us to get the patient positioned and more comfortable for the patient,” he said. “All to enhance their experience at the wound care center.”
He said treating the wound can be very rewarding.
“You get to physically see the wound get smaller over time, and you achieve the goal at the end, which is closure and again, helping that patient return to their function and get out and live their life,” Dr. Nioce said.
“If there are people out there and they have any type of wound that’s not healing, I strongly urge them to get in and see some type of wound care facility,” Taylor said.
If you need to contact the Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine about a wound that isn’t healing, call them at 580-357-3280.
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