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Both Springfield hospitals planning new wound centers

Posted January 23, 2008 10:00 pm

Dean Olsen

To better serve the growing number of patients with slow-healing wounds - often connected with obesity and diabetes - St. John's Hospital and Memorial Medical Center are developing outpatient centers that will offer hyperbaric oxygen therapy and other cutting-edge techniques.

"There is a huge amount of new treatments available to patients with wounds," said Dr. Robert McLafferty, a vascular surgeon at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine who will be medical director of St. John's Regional Wound Care Center.

St. John's began $500,000 worth of remodeling late last year on the first floor of its Pavilion building and plans to open the center there in April in partnership with a for-profit company, Florida-based Diversified Clinical Services.

St. John's center will feature three hyperbaric chambers, which deliver pressurized oxygen that studies show promotes wound healing in certain cases.

Memorial plans to work with another company, Florida-based National Healing Corp., to open its Wound Healing Center in space that it will remodel somewhere on Memorial's campus this summer, spokesman Michael Leathers said Wednesday.

The hospital intends to spend at least $180,000 on the purchase of two hyperbaric chambers for the center, he said.

Hyperbaric treatments are unavailable in Springfield. Memorial used to offer the technology but phased it out a few years ago because of fears - which didn't come true - that Medicare would stop paying for the treatments, according to Dr. Michael Neumeister, an SIU plastic surgeon who will be medical director of Memorial's wound-care center.

Hyperbaric treatments, developed more than 70 years ago for divers suffering from decompression sickness, have been refined over the years for a range of illnesses, Neumeister said.

Research has made hyperbaric treatment for wounds more effective and popular, he said.

The hospitals' centers also will offer wound-care services such as debridement and the latest dressings and wraps.

Hospitals nationwide are creating specialized wound-care centers, often working with private companies for expertise on techniques and the latest research, American Hospital Association spokesman Rick Wade said.

The hospitals are responding to the needs of more and more diabetic patients and an expected increase in baby boomers who will have to deal with problems that include obesity, diabetes and poor circulation, Wade said.

"With the diabetes comes the need for wound care because diabetics don't heal," he said.

The opening of St. John's center will create about five new jobs, and Memorial's center will create four new jobs, spokesmen said. The centers also will have a few employees from the partnering companies.

Many patients with slow-healing wounds have been traveling to Peoria, Jacksonville, Bloomington, St. Louis and other communities for care or don't have access to the latest treatments, officials from St. John's and Memorial said.

Dr. Mark Weaver, Memorial Health System's chief medical officer, said an estimated 6,000 people in Sangamon County and adjacent counties have slow-healing wounds and could benefit from specialized wound care. That number is expected to grow by 40 percent, to 8,400 people, in 10 years, he said.

The centers will improve patients' quality of life and help prevent the need for amputations, Weaver and McLafferty said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 12 percent of all diabetic adults have had foot ulcers related to the diabetes, Weaver said.

"At the same time," he said, "the number of bedridden Americans at risk for pressure ulcers is also on the rise."

Both hospitals are assembling doctors and podiatrists from the community who will work shifts at the center to treat their own patients and patients referred by other doctors.

The hospitals didn't have to get approval for the centers from state regulators who try to prevent unnecessary duplication of services.

Memorial expects to make a profit from the center, Leathers said. St. John's hopes its center is at least "self-supporting," according to chief medical officer Dr. Craig Backs.

When asked whether two wound centers are needed in Springfield, Neumeister said: "I think the volume is there. Whether or not we need two centers, I don't know if we need them right now."

Dean Olsen can be reached at (217) 788-1543.

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