Ready to heal your wounds? University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center’s Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine Center can help

By Laura Briedis

It’s amazing how your body can heal itself. For some people who have non-healing lacerations and sores, however, advanced wound care is needed.

A leader in the field, University Hospitals Geauga Medical Center’s Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine Center has launched a “Come Heal With Us” program to help bring awareness to those living with chronic or non-healing wounds. The center offers comprehensive wound care with leading-edge treatments, including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, negative pressure wound therapy, bio-engineered skin substitutes, biological and biosynthetic dressings and growth factor therapies.

“We offer advanced wound care with a multidisciplinary approach, including physicians and nurse partners specializing in general surgery, podiatry, plastic surgery, and infectious disease, using proven treatment protocols to help patients heal,” says Beth Pacovsky, program director of the UH Geauga Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine Center, in Chardon. “Wounds affect nearly 7 million Americans and diminish their quality of life.”

“When patients have chronic wounds, especially of the lower extremities, it affects the mobility of the patient and puts the burden on the patients’ families, who have to help with basic daily activities,” says Dr. Liming Yu, general surgeon and medical director of the center. “And approximately 30 percent of untreated chronic wounds result in amputation and diminish life expectancy.”

Dr. Yu stresses that it is critical for patients to not only understand disease risk factors that can lead to the development of chronic wounds, but also the urgency and importance of seeking treatment right away.

“The need for advanced wound care is growing due to the aging population, increased incidences of diabetes and obesity—making wound clinics in demand,” says Beth.

While patients living with diabetes, peripheral vascular disease or poor circulation are most at risk for developing a non-healing wound, sometimes patients with dehisced surgical wounds, burns, skin ulcers, cancer, or traumatic injury can develop chronic wounds that do not heal over weeks, months or even years.

The goal is to identify patients with chronic, hard-to-heal wounds as early as possible so that comprehensive treatment may begin for optimal healing.

Advanced Treatments
When the wound care center moved into its new location in Chardon in 2020, it added hyperbaric oxygen therapy. This treatment, which involves breathing 100 percent oxygen in a pressurized chamber, significantly increases the amount of oxygen carried in the bloodstream. Taking in a much higher amount of oxygen than normal provides body tissue with more fuel to heal a chronic wound, which is often caused by compromised circulation with abnormally low oxygen level, Dr. Yu explains.

This advanced therapy helps wound healing through other mechanisms as well, such as stimulating new blood vessel formation, increasing the production of wound healing growth factors, inhibiting the growth of bacteria, or even killing bacteria. The treatment takes place in a clear, acrylic chamber, inside which a patient lays on a stretcher and can watch TV or a movie. Sessions typically last for about 90 minutes.

Some of the indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy include diabetic ulcers of the lower extremities, compromised skin grafts, crush injury, progressive necrotizing infection, radiation-induced tissue injury as well as for other conditions, including certain types of sudden hearing loss.

“Time is tissue,” says Beth. “The earlier the intervention, the better the outcome.”

You can schedule an appointment at the UH Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine Center by calling 440-901-6366. The center is located at 13207 Ravenna Road, in Chardon. You can learn more by visiting UHhospitals.org/Geauga.