June 29, 2020 – At any given time, nearly six million Americans suffer
from a problem wound. The wound may be caused by diabetes, poor circulation,
radiation, a pressure sore or injury. Whatever the cause, a slow-healing
wound should not be ignored.
Gary Willis can vouch for that. When the St. Marys resident injured himself
during a lawn mower accident, his wife insisted he see a doctor. Thinking
the wound would heal on its own, Willis waited. When it became infected,
Willis, a former Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Advisory Board
member, sought medical help. “My surgeon performed a skin graft,
then emphatically recommended the Health System’s Wound Care Center,”
he says. For several weeks, Willis drove two hours round trip from St.
Marys to the Wound Care Center on the Brunswick Campus. “The staff’s
professionalism was worth the trip, but the experience would have been
more comfortable closer to home,” Willis recalls. Local care for
chronic wounds is important since healing requires close monitoring and,
oftentimes, multiple treatments.
Willis’s treatment included several sessions in a hyperbaric oxygen
therapy (HBOT) chamber. The chamber contains 100% oxygen, which hastens
healing and stimulates the growth of new blood vessels and tissue. Thanks
to HBOT, Willis’s wound healed. Left untreated, it might have developed
more serious complications. In some patients, an untreated wound can lead
to amputation.
With the opening of a new
Wound Care Center on the Health System’s
Camden Campus, area residents now have access to the same high quality care available
in Brunswick. “Our specialized treatments speed healing so that
patients get back to doing the things they enjoy,” says
Damon Brantley, M.D., chief of the Department of Surgery at the Camden Campus and a physician
at the Wound Care Center.
Similar to the Brunswick facility, Camden’s center is operated in
partnership with Healogics, the nation’s largest provider of advanced
wound care services. The staff includes physicians with advanced training
in lingering wounds caused by a variety of conditions and nurses trained
in chronic wound care.
After being evaluated to find the underlying cause of the wound, patients
receive a personalized treatment plan. This typically includes debridement
(removal of dead skin and tissue), a lab test, nutritional counseling
and infection management. If needed, they may also receive more advanced
treatments, including:
- Negative pressure wound therapy
- Bioengineered skin substitutes
- Biological and biosynthetic dressings
- Growth factor therapies
“The center offers advanced wound care that stimulates healing, even
when you’ve exhausted other options,” says Howard W. Sepp
Jr., FACHE, vice president and administrator of the Camden Campus. “It’s
yet more evidence of our commitment to making high-quality medical care
easily available in Camden County.”
From his perspective as a former patient, Willis wholeheartedly agrees.
“Opening a center in Camden demonstrates that the Health System
has the technology, knowledge and medical expertise to keep our community
healthy. There’s a heightened sense of caring and accountability
when they offer these advanced services.”
The Southeast Georgia Health System Camden Campus Wound Care Center was
made possible partly because of the community’s generous support of the
Georgia HEART rural hospital tax credit program. The HEART program increases access to
health care by allowing taxpayers to redirect their Georgia state taxes
to rural hospitals and receive a 100% state tax credit.
If you or a loved one need advanced wound care, please call 912-540-6802
to schedule an appointment. To learn more about the HEART program, visit
sghs.org/ga-tax-credit.