Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center

The Holyoke Medical Center Wound Care Center, managed by Healogics, Inc., provides specialized treatment for chronic or non-healing wounds, which are defined as sores or wounds that have not significantly improved from conventional treatments. Associated with inadequate circulation, poorly functioning veins, and immobility, non-healing wounds lead to lower quality of life and may lead to amputations. When wounds persist, a specialized approach is required for healing.

That’s where our Wound Care Center can help. With state-of-the-art treatments available including debridement, dressing selection, special shoes, and patient education, people with non-healing and chronic wounds now have a place to turn. The Center uses an interdisciplinary model of care, including infectious-disease management, physical therapy, occupational therapy, laboratory evaluation, nutritional management, pain management, diabetes education, and other areas to address total patient health.

At the HMC Wound Care Center, we follow treatment protocols specifically established for each type of wound. We utilize the latest approaches to wound healing and remain current in new scientific advances in wound care.

A comprehensive wound care team

The HMC Wound Care Center is designed to complement your physicians’ services and is committed to the treatment of chronic or non-healing wounds. The Center is made up of a team of professionals, including:

• Physicians with advanced training in wound management and hyperbaric oxygen therapy
• Nursing staff trained in the care of chronic wounds
• Technicians who perform non-invasive studies and various therapies
• Experienced staff to assist with appointments, medical records, and health insurance processing
• A personalized wound treatment program

What is specialized wound care?

Once a treatment plan has been initiated, you will visit the Center on a regular basis for specialized treatments and documentation of the progress of your healing. You will also be fully instructed on how to do your own wound care at home between visits, as well as how to protect your wound from further injury. It is very important to remember that you are the most important part of your healing process. Keeping appointments and following directions are critical to attaining a positive healing outcome. The Center employs the most technologically advanced wound care therapy, including debridement, topical wound therapy, growth-factor therapy, tissue therapy, dressing selection, special shoes, and patient education. When wounds persist, a specialized and comprehensive approach is required for healing.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

The center features two state of the art hyperbaric oxygen chambers. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is just one of the wound healing tools that the center provides to the patients who need it. HBOT helps the body’s oxygen-dependent, wound-healing mechanisms function more efficiently. While enclosed in a chamber at greater-than-normal atmospheric pressure, patients breathe pure oxygen, saturating their blood plasma and allowing it to carry from 15 to 20 times the normal amount of healing oxygen to the body’s tissues. Another effect of HBOT is vasoconstriction, the benefit of which is a reduction in post-traumatic edema. In effect, HBOT maintains oxygen delivery while blood flow is improved in the microcirculation by the edema-reducing effect of vasoconstriction. Up to 18 percent of wound care patients may require HBOT treatments, provided by physicians at the Wound Care Center, who are specialty-trained in hyperbaric medicine, and our highly trained clinical hyperbaric technicians and staff.

Approve Indications For HBOT
Below are approved indications for HBOT which are reimbursed by Medicare, HMOs
and other insurance providers, and are provided by the Wound
Care Center. The Wound Care Center provides HBOT for the following:

• Diabetic ulcers of the lower extremities
• Soft tissue radionecrosis and osteoradionecrosis
• Chronic refractory osteomyelitis
• Compromised skin grafts
• Actinomycosis

Emergent or Non-Emergent – Dependent on
Patient Hemodynamic Situation:

• Crush injury/acute traumatic peripheral ischemia
• Progressive necrotizing infections (necrotizing fasciitis)
• Acute peripheral arterial insufficiency

What Your Patients Can Expect
HBOT is administered in a comfortable environment, attended by our skilled, experienced technicians. Your patient will receive thorough instructions for his or her treatment and assistance with any insurance issues. Most health care plans reimburse for HBOT for currently approved indications.