Fort Hamilton Hospital Center for Wound Healing
What: Specialized treatment for chronic and nonhealing wounds
Where: 1010 Cereal Ave., Hamilton
Phone: (513) 867-3166
Program director: Christy Quincy
Clinical nurse manager: Karen Armstrong
Hours: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays
TriHealth Advanced Wound Healing Centers
What: Specialized treatment for chronic and nonhealing wounds
Where: Bethesda North Hospital Advanced Wound Healing Center, 10500 Montgomery Road, Cincinnati; Good Samaritan Hospital
Advanced Wound Healing Center, 375 Dixmyth Ave. Cincinnati
Phone: Bethesda: (513) 865-5050; Good Samaritan: (513) 862-5050
Medical director: Dr. Arti Masturzo
Hours: By appointment
Website: www.TriHealth.com/WoundCenters
UC Health Drake Center’s Advanced Wound Care
Where: 151 West Galbraith Road, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 418-2707
Website: http://drakecenter.uchealth.com/our-services/advanced-wound-care/
Mercy Wound Care Center At Mercy Hospital Mt. Airy
Where: 2446 Kipling Drive, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 853-5955
Website: http://www.e-mercy.com/Wound_Care_Mt.Airy.asp
Mercy Wound Care Center At Mercy Hospital Clermont
Where: 3000 Hospital Drive, Batavia
Phone: (513) 735-8924
Website: http://e-mercy.com/Wound_Care__Home.asp
The Christ Hospital, The Wound Healing Center
Where: 2123 Auburn Ave., Medical Office Building, Suite 335, Cincinnati
Phone: (513) 585-4595
HAMILTON — Jim Schuttinger nearly lost his leg after an infection that began in his right big toe didn’t heal on its own.
“I’m walking around with both legs today. I’m back to a normal life,” said Schuttinger, 53, of Liberty Twp., who is diabetic. He was able to save his limb through treatment at the Center for Would Healing at the Fort Hamilton Hospital.
Schuttinger is one of 6.5 million patients in America affected by wounds that won’t heal naturally due to underlying health issues, according to National Healing Corp., a manager of wound healing centers nationwide. The number of patients with chronic wounds is growing due to other complications such as diabetes, obesity and cancer treatment, according to National Healing.
Fort Hamilton, which has two hyperbaric oxygen chambers, says it has the only hyperbaric chamber that can be used for treatment of wounds. It also is Butler County’s only comprehensive wound center, for which Christy Quincy started as the center’s new program director June 13.
Advanced Wound Healing Centers opened at Bethesda North and Good Samaritan hospitals in Cincinnati this year under medical director Dr. Arti Masturzo of West Chester Twp.
Fort Hamilton opened the wound center in 2006 in partnership with National Healing, said Linda Yarger, Fort Hamilton administrative director, ancillary services. A wound center is like going to see a specialist, she said. A lot of patients are referred by their primary care doctors or they can refer themselves.
What makes Fort Hamilton’s center different is it has a team of nine different medical specialists including general and vascular surgeons, podiatrists and internists, who along with nurses have specialized training in wound healing, said Marielou Vierling, hospital spokeswoman. One of the keys to treating a chronic wound is to also treat the cause, which may include diet, smoking or out of control blood sugar, Yarger said.
Quincy took over as director for Yarger.
“We literally are a phase of their treatment to get them healed to improve their health and then they’re back with their doctor as soon as that issue’s taken care of,” Quincy said.
The center sees approximately 100 patients a week and the oxygen chamber is at capacity of six patients a day, Yarger said. The hyperbaric chamber is an oxygen chamber that infiltrates the body with oxygen to speed up healing, but is only one way to treat wounds, she added. Patients go in the chamber for about two hours at a time, five days a week, for 30 to 60 days, depending on their diagnosis, she said.
The new wound centers at the TriHealth system hospitals haven’t impacted Fort Hamilton because it’s out of their market, she said. In fact, she said a satellite location of the wound center is a future possibility.
Masturzo said TriHealth’s outpatient wound centers are unique because she has a full-time wound medical practice. TriHealth’s managing partner on the center is Accelecare Wound Centers.
Chronic wounds are serious because they can cause physical and mental problems, Masturzo said. Wounds can become infected and certain wounds that have drainage can cause dehydration and protein loss. Other wounds for diabetic patients have the risk of amputation.
The pain, drainage and odor can cause social isolation or keep people from work, she said.
“The purpose of a wound center, it’s more of a streamlined approach to wound care,” she said. “I think what we’re seeing now is a rising diabetes complication population.”
Other local hospitals Atrium Medical Center, Mercy Hospital Fairfield, McCullough Hyde Memorial and West Chester Hospital said they have wound care nurses.
Contact
this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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