Parkview Huntington Hospital ends Phase 1 of expansion
On Dec. 18, the new Parkview Huntington Hospital (PHH) Center for Wound Healing officially opened its doors to patients.
Now, Huntington County residents who have struggled with chronic, non-healing wounds have closer-to-home access to clinically proven, state-of-the-art treatments that can help their bodies heal.
PHH Presidnet Juli Johnson said the need for specialized wound care locally is significant.
“Diabetes and other medical conditions present serious challenges for many area residents,” she said. “Often, those conditions – or even injuries, such as burns or other traumas – can lead to painful, lingering wounds that resist healing. Our team at the center will be focused on helping these individuals find relief and improvement.”
Until now, patients who needed this kind of care typically had to travel out of county, which can be especially difficult for individuals without regular transportation, or who may reside in senior facilities.
“A lot of the physicians are excited about being able to spare their patients the hassle of traveling,” Johnson continued. “Even before we opened our doors, they were referring patients for appointments.”
The 3,657-square-foot space inside the center encompasses the hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) suite – which features two, see-through HBO chambers – five treatment rooms, a changing area with lockers and restrooms, supply storage, reception area, waiting room and offices. Treatments offered include HBO therapy, negative-pressure wound therapy, bioengineered tissues, biosynthetic dressings and growth-factor therapies, as well as debridement. PHH is partnering with Healogics, the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound care services, to make the range of therapies available.
The facility is the third such Center for Wound Healing to be added to a Parkview hospital in recent years. Other centers are located at Parkview Randallia Hospital in Fort Wayne and Parkview Noble Hospital in Kendallville. All three centers operate under the medical direction of Parkview physician James Edlund, MD.
Edlund and the center’s care team members held a ribbon-cutting ceremony the day before the opening. They were joined by members of the hospital’s board of directors, the Parkview Huntington Foundation board, Chamber Ambassadors, and local business, government and community leaders. Hospital and medical office building co-workers and the medical staff were invited to visit the wound center for a quick look before it would begin serving the public.
With the center’s HBO chambers as a backdrop, Johnson emphasized how proud she and other hospital leaders are of the way the project has come together.
“It’s been a terrific effort on the part of so many people,” she said. “We have an amazing care team in place now, and the facility is ready. This is going to make a huge difference for so many patients whose lives have been negatively affected by wounds that just won’t heal. And it’s really exciting to see that there is so much support for this service in the community.”
Edlund, who retired from Parkview Physicians Group’s Colon and Rectal Surgery departments earlier in 2018 to head Parkview’s wound care initiative full-time, explained the Center for Wound Healing approach.
He said, “What we do is work with a network of partners on all of the factors that influence the body’s ability to heal.
“Chronic wound management has many facets, and it takes a team approach because patients typically have a variety of needs. Our partner Healogics is the leader in outpatient wound care in the country, with more than 700 centers, and it maintains the largest database of wound-care results, therapies and supplies. Healogics does all the training and education of the physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, and hyperbaric techs who provide wound care. And these folks are already very experienced in dealing with wounds, particularly our nurse practitioners. At the center, we meet with the patient, evaluate the wound, clean it out, apply dressings and use advanced products (such as skin substitutes), arrange for other types of care, and see the patient on a regular basis so we can gauge the level of progress.
“Our partner network includes the primary care doctors, who help manage each patient’s primary diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. We also work closely with our cardiology colleagues, plastic surgeons, podiatrists and orthopedists, especially the trauma orthopedists. In addition, shoe stores help with getting the proper shoes for depth and width and offloading, which is shifting the weight off of a foot sore and onto the leg. We also work with extended-care facilities because many of our patients come and go at those facilities due to their age.”
A multidisciplinary team will provide care at the center: Medical Director James Edlund, MD; Todd Sider, MD; Cynthia Wellman, MD; Advanced Practice Provider Michelle Diss, NP; Clinical Program Director Amy Rosen, MSN, RN; and nursing staff, including Jessica Goodnight, BSN, RN; Jennica Maggard, ASN, BSN; Diane Shaw, ASN, RN.
Physicians from other specialty backgrounds may also begin providing care at the center later this year. Two Healogics employees are embedded with Parkview to assist with a variety of needs related to wound care patient relations and center operations.
In coming weeks, the space inside the center will be dedicated as the Huntington County Medical Society Wound Care Center in recognition of a gift from that organization.
The opening of Huntington’s wound center represents the end of Phase 1 of the local hospital expansion project, underway since early 2018. Located on the PHH campus, next to the medical office building that is adjacent to PHH, the center has its own exterior entrance. Free parking is available in the lot in front of the medical office building, and patients should use the Center for Wound Healing entrance. Hours of operation for the center are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
A physician referral is generally required, although some patients may be able to self-refer. For more information, call 260-355-3170.
