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(Editor’s Note: This the fourth in a five-part series focusing on new services at Whitfield Regional Hospital.)

The Wound Care Clinic at Whitfield Regional Hospital saw its first patient on Aug. 28. The clinic features advanced technology, resources and medical guidance from Healogics, a provider of advanced wound care services, to heal chronic wounds in patients that require a more specialized approach to healing that many primary care physicians are not able to provide.

“When we see wounds, they’re going to be wounds that have not shown any progression in healing within probably two weeks or 30 days since they have occurred,” said Dr. Keith Roberts, medical director of the wound care clinic and general surgeon.

The clinic’s advanced technology measures each wound with extreme accuracy, tracks the healing process so clinic staff know when to adjust a patient’s treatment and allows the staff to perform out-patient biological skin grafts.

Staff also perform debridements, dress wounds and perform lab work when necessary using the hospital’s facilities.

“We have the entire hospital at our fingertips,” said Suanna Bridges, RN and clinical program director.

In addition to advanced technology and services, the clinic utilizes a partnership with the patient’s primary care physician to use the patients underlying ailments as a way to determine the cause of the wound not healing and encourage the patient to take steps that will naturally increase their body’s ability to heal wounds, such as changing their diet or managing their diabetes.

“We can put anything on the wound, but we have to heal the patient from the inside out,” CRNP Laura Beth Glass said.

If a wound is located on the lower extremities, the staff conducts a lower extremity evaluation and checks the ankle-brachial index to determine is the chronic wound is related to a vascular disease that inhibits healing.

Inpatients also have access to the wound care staff as a nurse practitioner provides healing treatment weekly and Dr. Keith Roberts, medical director of the clinic and general surgeon, performs surgeries when required, such as for extensive debridements.

The clinic is currently open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to noon each day except for Wednesday when it is open until 4:30 p.m. Staff members at the clinic aim to grow to consistent full-day operating hours.

Appointments can be made via referrals or by calling the clinic at 337-287-2438.

(This article originally appeared in the Wednesday, September 4 issue of the Demopolis Times.)