Everyone has heard that time heals all wounds, but the truth is that without advanced therapies, some wounds can take years and even decades to heal. Other wounds that do not respond to treatment may lead to amputation in extreme cases. Opening this fall, Hunterdon Wound Healing Center offers the community state-of-the-art specialized wound healing care.

Wound healing helps diabetics
“With the rising rate of diabetes, there is a great need for a specialized care center that can treat the ulcers associated with the disease as well as help patients with other skin, bone and tissue conditions caused by illness or injury,” says Patricia Steingall, Director of Patient Care Services.

The center’s doctors and clinical staff are skilled in the latest therapeutic methods in wound management and stay abreast of cutting-edge information through continuous training. Patients will be treated with state-of- the art technology from having their progress charted through digital photographs to, in some cases, being treated in one of the two hyperbaric oxygen chambers.

Hunterdon Medical Center partners with National Healing Corp.
To establish the Wound Healing center, Hunterdon Medical Center partnered with Florida-based National Healing Corp., which manages wound healing centers nationwide with an average healing rate of 84 percent, and an average heal time of seven weeks. Although the centers treat patients with chronic and advanced conditions that have not responded to previous therapies, the rate of limb amputation for nonresponsive wounds is less than 2 percent.

General and vascular surgeon Herman Maeuser, MD, explains, “We utilized an established pathway that has an impressive record of healing difficult wounds. After establishing a full evaluation on a patient’s first visit, we take photographs of the wound at each subsequent visit to evaluate the therapy’s progress. Our treatments are evidence-based and best-practice driven, meaning our patients do not undergo any treatment or progress to a new level of treatment until the need is clearly indicated.”

Who should seek wound healing treatment?
Likely candidates for treatment include those suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and wounds that haven’t healed within 30 days. The center’s hyperbaric oxygen chambers can also be used to treat patients suffering from such uncommon ailments as cyanide poisoning, gangrene, carbon monoxide poisoning, brown recluse spider bites and the “bends,” or decompression sickness.

Patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most insurance plans may self-refer to Hunterdon Wound Healing Center. However, one of the center’s missions is to build relationships with patients’ primary care physicians.

“We become a partner in the patient’s medical care,” says Dr. Maeuser, who serves as medical director at the center. “While we dedicate our efforts to healing the patient’s wound, the primary care physician is free to focus on treating the underlying cause or disease. Through regular reports and phone calls, we work with the patient’s doctor and other experts in the program to develop a total approach to treatment and care.”