New CBH program offering advanced wound care locally
Innovative therapeutics providing faster recoveries, say hospital officials.
EPHRATA — In the early morning hours of Wednesday, March 18, a drowsy Karen Gallaway stumbled and fell next to her bed. In the tumble, her lower right leg somehow impaled itself on a metal projection from a wheel assembly on the bed frame.
It pierced her flesh to the bone, resulting in a trip to the emergency room at Columbia Basin Hospital, where the deep wound was stitched and stapled. But puncture wounds can be dangerous because they push bacteria and debris into underlying muscle and tissues, increasing the risk of serious infection.
Such was Karen’s fate. As a result, the 79-year-old Ephrata woman needed advanced wound care. But she didn’t have to go far to get it, thanks to a program initiated last December at the local hospital.
Since her accident two months ago, Karen has undergone regular treatments at CBH, including last week when Dr. Benjamin Schultze again “debrided” her wound – that is, removed damaged or infected tissue – followed by applications of saline and special collagen products to stimulate new cell growth and promote faster healing.
As specialty nurse Shelly Miller, R.N., took measurements and applied a final dressing to conclude the treatment, Karen said, “I feel great. I can walk again.” She called the CBH staff “wonderful” and expressed gratitude at not having to leave town for ongoing medical care.
That’s the intent, said Schultze, the hospital’s chief clinical and nursing officer.
“We want to keep as much care in the community as possible, to provide care locally and do it well so patients don’t have to travel,” he said.
In recent years, Schultze said innovative therapeutics have advanced “leaps and bounds” to heal damaged tissue faster and speed up recoveries. That can help folks like Karen injured in accidents, patients recovering from surgeries, residents in nursing homes and assisted-living facilities, and individuals receiving home health care.
Treatment is offered at CBH for trauma wounds, diabetic foot and vascular leg ulcers, pressure sores, post-surgical wounds, and trauma caused by burns, infections, edema, cancer, radiation treatment, and scleroderma – a chronic autoimmune disease in which the body overproduces collagen that thickens and hardens skin and can affect internal organs.
“Healing close to home,” according to CBH literature. “We offer our patients innovative and personalized advanced wound care services in a comfortable, convenient setting.”
The hospital started its advanced wound care program on Dec. 1, with Schultze initially seeing patients one day a week for debridement treatment and regenerative graft applications. That has since expanded to Tuesdays and Thursdays, with Miller available five days a week for cleaning and dressing changes. Together, the program is now treating about 45 patients weekly, and another practitioner will be joining at the end of June to further expand it, Schultze said.
Advanced wound treatment is just one aspect of what he called “whole person care” if additional services are needed to address a patient’s other health or medical conditions locally.
Patients interested in the program can ask their primary care provider for a referral, or contact Columbia Basin Hospital for more information (call 509-233-4451, email ops@columbiabasinhospital.org or visit the CBH website).
