Caring for the wounds of Carbon County

For some time, the type of wound a Carbon County resident had would determine where they would receive care.

A scrape or minor cut could be treated at the emergency room while issues with an amputation or a more serious skin tear might warrant a trip out-of-town. That would mean a drive to Casper, Laramie, Cheyenne or surrounding states such as Colorado or Utah. As of November 1, however, Memorial Hospital of Carbon County (MHCC) now offers a service to cut down-no pun intended-on the amount of travel for wound care.

"Historically, all of our physical therapy was done through Memorial Hospital of Carbon County. That changed about two years ago when we made the decision to partner with Fremont Therapy Group, who's done a really great job of meeting the needs of physical therapy for Carbon County residents," said Stephanie Hinkle, Marketing and Communications Director for MHCC. "At that point, Fremont Therapy and their providers began the wound care component that we did offer. We've always had wound care, it's certainly always been available. Through Heologics and the wound care clinic we are now able to offer that on a different level."

Healogics is based in Jacksonville, Florida and, according to its website, is "the nation's leading provider of advanced wound care."

Kevin Schroeder represents Healogics in its partnership with MHCC and is one-half of the new wound care clinic. Sonia Klein is the other half. Both bring previous experience to their respective positions.

"Prior to taking this position here, I was the assistant director of nursing at Kingston Care Center in Sylvania, Ohio," said Schroeder. "There we dealt with a whole slew of wounds. We had a lot of skin tears. A lot of pressure ulcers would happen. A lot of amputations, post-op patients."

Klein, who has had most of her medical experience in Carbon County, dealt with wound care as an emergency room nurse. Along with that experience in the emergency room, she also brings the understanding that primary care and wound care must often work in tandem because not all wounds are from cooking or construction accidents.

One such example is lymphedema. While this in itself does not cause wounds, it does deteriorate the condition of the skin.

"What happens to the skin with that condition, the skin starts breaking down because there's so much fluid buildup behind the tissue," said Klein. "You can have anything from a blister to a gaping wound."

Other examples of wound care include pressure ulcers, which are often found on older patients or those who are not very active. According to Schroeder, due to limited activity and pressure between the skin and bone, blood supply will get cut off and the skin will begin to decay.

"Our goal, as wound care providers, is to address each aspect of a wound as clinically as possible," said Klein. "A lot of wound care is being vigilant and persistent. From the patient's perspective, they just have to want to heal because it is a tedious process."

Although the wound care clinic officially opened on November 1, it has seen a total of 11 patients so far with two already discharged. Klein said while patients with more chronic issues were a little hesitant about the clinic at first--primarily due to how wound care changed over the past couple years-those patients now are excited about the level of care they are receiving.

"The number one thing is that it's local. They don't have to travel two-and-a-half hours up to Casper or Laramie or wherever it may be," said Schroeder. "They don't have to worry about missing appointments, missing dressing changes."

At the moment, the patient load for the wound care clinic is low with only nine patients. Due to this, Klein said patients currently do not need a provider referral.

"It's very nice to have provider referral because then we can know what's happening with the patient," said Klein. "In Carbon County, and just knowing how folks think, they're going to be like 'Oh, we've got this new clinic and it specializes in this. I'm just going to go up there and get an appointment.'"

"I feel like that really helps with the accessibility of it as well," added Schroeder.

The MHCC Wound Care Clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and can be reached by calling 307-324-6022.