Poor circulation, infection, diabetes and injuries can cause open wounds that are difficult to heal. On July 21, Bakersfield Heart Hospital (BHH) opened their outpatient wound healing program to address the growing need for wound care and help patients overcome issues related to various types of wounds.
Bakersfield Heart Hospital’s Center for Wound Healing is located directly across the street from the hospital at 3012 Sillect Avenue. It offers advanced wound care treatments and hyperbaric oxygen therapy to help heal wounds, including: diabetic wounds of the lower extremities, pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, ischemic ulcers, traumatic ulcers, radiation wounds, atypical wounds and post-surgical wounds.
“Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy greatly increases oxygen concentration in a patient’s bloodstream, allowing oxygen to pass more easily through blood plasma into wounds to heal them. For patients who meet criteria, HBO therapy can be essential to healing certain types of chronic wounds,” said Ed Nichols, MD and Medical Director for the new center.
More than 60 percent of non-traumatic, lower-limb amputations occur in people with diabetes. Comprehensive foot care programs have been shown to reduce amputation rates in diabetics by 45 to 85 percent. Wound healing increases a patient’s quality of life and works toward limb preservation in both diabetic and non-diabetic patients.
“This is very good news for the growing number of people who need this specialized care, especially the elderly and patients with diabetes,” said David Veillette, BHH president. “This center enables us to offer advanced healing therapies that utilize proven clinical protocols, individual patient treatment plans and a disease-management approach to wound healing.”
The center is partnered with Wound Care Advantage, an innovative serviced-based wound care management company, to provide the necessary tools for a well-equipped wound care program.
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To learn more about Bakersfield Heart Hospital’s outpatient wound healing program contact the Center for Wound Healing Director, Bonnie Quinonez, at (661) 634-0200.
About Bakersfield Heart Hospital
In 1995, a group of local physicians set out on a project to bring a new standard of heart and vascular care to Bakersfield, CA.When a partnership with a company called MedCath, Inc. was formed, the concept of a 47-bed hospital designed under the patient focused care model was formed.
Bakersfield Heart Hospital opened its doors to the Bakersfield community in 1999. Over time, Bakersfield Heart Hospital has evolved to become the community leader in heart and vascular care as well expanding to a wide range of other medical and surgical treatments.
In July 2012, Cardiovascular Care Group (CCG) finalized the acquisition of a majority interest in the Bakersfield Heart Hospital
from MedCath, Inc.
About Cardiovascular Care Group (CCG)
CCG is a physician-led patient-centered company that partners with cardiovascular specialists and other physicians to design and build regional care delivery systems that integrate care across the continuum of cardiovascular care. Working closely with the existing healthcare network, CCG and its physician partners focus on coordinating the delivery of evidence-based cardiovascular care to achieve improved clinical outcomes, at lower costs and with improved quality of life for the patients they serve.
About Wound Care Advantage
Founded in 2002, Wound Care Advantage’s mission is to heal patients quickly by building strong partnerships with wound centers across the country. Wound Care Advantage provides a variety of services to assist wound centers in developing clinically and financially successful programs. Using a service-based and traditional management approach, Wound Care Advantage focuses over a decade of experience on the core belief that hospitals should control their own destiny. Wound Care Advantage is a privately held company headquartered in Sierra Madre, Calif.
Bakersfield, California
