People suffering from chronic wounds on the Northwest Side can now get treatment closer to home, since Northwest Medical Center opened the first wound center in the area last month.
The Wound Care Center at Northwest treats chronic wounds such as radiation burns, diabetic foot ulcers and chronic venous stasis disease, said Vikki Hensley, clinical director.
The new center is in suites that previously were used for surgery. It cost Northwest Medical Center $600,000 to open the wound center, said Kim Chimene, marketing director for Northwest Medical Center.
The center already has 50 patients since opening on May 15, Hensley said. Fifty percent of the patients suffer from venous stasis disease, which usually occurs in older patients and can cause painful swelling in the legs, she said.
"We were taking phone calls weeks, a month, before we opened," she said.
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Hensley said the number of wound-care centers in the country has been growing during the last five years. This is the second center she has been involved in opening.
A city the size of Tucson "should have three wound centers," Hensley said. "Nursing homes have been picking up the slack."
St. Mary's Hospital has had a specialized wound-healing center serving the West Side for four years, said Jennifer Biggs, director of patient-care services.
Biggs said she thinks it's good to have more than one wound center because of the high prevalence of diabetes in the area.
"There are a lot of wounds that have trouble healing. Having another (treatment center) is a great thing," agreed Steve Nash, executive director of the Pima County Medical Society.
University Medical Center has a program called the Southern Arizona Limb Salvage Alliance that specializes in treating and preventing foot ulcers from diabetes, but the alliance's director, Dr. David G. Armstrong, said it also treats other wounds.
Armstrong said Southern Arizona is one of the top places in terms of needing treatment for diabetic wounds because of the high number of Hispanics, American Indians and older residents who suffer from diabetes.
He said 20 percent of Hispanics and 60 percent of Tohono O'odham Indians suffer from diabetes.
One-third of the patients who come in with complications of diabetes suffer from foot ulcers, Armstrong said.
One hope for the new wound-care center at Northwest Medical Center is that it will get some readmittance patients out of the emergency rooms, Chimene said.
The center has five treatment rooms and two hyperbaric chambers.
Hyperbaric chambers have been used in wound treatment for the last 10 years. They deliver 100 percent pressurized oxygen to the patient, helping tissue heal, Hensley said.
Hensley said her clinic hopes to expand and plan to have all staff members become certified wound-care specialists. "We want to be the premier wound-care center," Hensley said.
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Northwest Medical Center, 6200 N. La Cholla Blvd., opened in 1983 with 150 beds. The hospital celebrated its 25th anniversary last September with 300 beds.