A Team to Heal Your Wounds

Discover the Wound Care Center

Back row, L to R: Podiatrist Timothy Mooney, DPM; NNMC Chief Executive Officer Mark Crawford; family practitioner Todd Inman, MD

Middle row, L to R: Tina Acordagoitia, RN; Center Coordinator Tamie Corron

Front row: hyperbaric oxygen therapy technician A.J. Flock

The Wound Care Center at Northern Nevada Medical Center has the only physician-supervised hyperbaric oxygen chamber in the area.

It's said that time heals all wounds. But sometimes time needs a little help. If you have a wound that has not healed, the dedicated team at the Wound Care Center at Northern Nevada Medical Center can help. Specialists thoroughly evaluate patients to determine the type, location, severity and cause of their wounds. For each patient, staff members develop an individualized treatment plan, using advanced wound care therapies to stimulate healing

The Ways of Wounds

As a child, when you skinned your knee, the wound most likely healed in a typical fashion. Your blood clotted. Your body's immune system helped fight infection. A scab formed and new, healthy skin grew underneath it. When a wound heals in a predictable and orderly fashion like this, it is called an acute wound.

George Seiffert, MD (left) identifies peripheral vascular disease in patients seen at the Wound Care Center. X-ray technician Teresa Roeschen assists.

But sometimes, healing does not progress. The wound may become "stuck" in the healing process and become a chronic wound. Warning signs may include the following:

Inability to heal for five days or more
Swelling that does not go away
Continuous pain
Fluid that drains from the wound
The wound reappears after it has healed

Many factors can hamper healing. The wound may be too large for the body to regenerate enough tissue to repair it, or it may get infected. Certain illnesses, like diabetes and heart disease, can inhibit the body's ability to get enough blood and nutrients to the wound for healing.

Caring for Chronic Wounds

The Wound Care Center at NNMC, as featured in M.D. News!

"Using advanced wound care techniques, we may be able to drastically reduce the time it takes for a chronic wound to heal," says Todd Inman, MD, a physician at the Wound Care Center. Treatment options may include:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Debridement to remove unhealthy tissue
Use of advanced wound care dressings and topical products
Infection therapy
Compression therapy
Education to teach patients how to take care of their wounds and prevent future wounds
Referrals to specialists for treatment of underlying medical conditions that hinder the healing process, including blocked or narrowed blood vessels