Galesburg Cottage Hospital Wound Healing Center
If you’re suffering with chronic wounds that won’t heal, Galesburg Cottage Hospital can help. The Wound Healing Center at GCH is the only wound care center in the tri-county area, offering treatment for skin ulcers and slow-healing wounds associated with disease, as well as skin, bone and tissue conditions linked to illness or injury.
For more information on wound healing therapies, contact the Cottage Wound Healing Center – Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. at 309-345-4216.
Each wound is unique, and the causes of open sores are complex. The solution may be as simple as changing a medication or a more involved treatment method. The Wound Healing Center at GCH has an experienced and team of professionals – all dedicated to healing chronic wounds -- and the technology to determine the right type of treatment required for optimal healing. Our specialty is caring for patients with chronic and advanced conditions that have not responded to previous therapies.
Wound healing options
Your wound care physician may prescribe one or more of these therapies:
- Debridement (surgical removal of damaged tissue)
- Specially chosen dressings and wraps
- Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
- Bio-engineered tissue substitutes
- Platelet growth technologies
We offer specialized care for serious wounds, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps and wounds that have not healed within 30 days, such as:
- Diabetic and pressure ulcers
- Persistent skin irritations
- Surgical wounds
- Traumatic wounds
- Burns
- Venous insufficiency
- Neurophathic ulcers
- Radiation injuries
- Vasculitis and other inflammatory ulcers
- Other chronic, non-healing wounds
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy
Hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy is a painless, proven way to help the body heal. Hyperbaric oxygen chambers work by surrounding the patient with 100 percent oxygen at higher- than-normal atmospheric pressure in sessions, or dives, that last from 90 minutes to two hours. This increases the amount of oxygen in the patient’s blood, allowing wounds to heal from the inside out.
The HBO chambers resemble a reclining bed encased in a clear acrylic shell nearly a yard in diameter. Patients can listen to music or watch movies on televisions and VCR/DVD players mounted above the chamber. Patients also remain in constant contact with those outside the chamber through an intercom and private handset. The only physical sensation resulting from the treatment is a slight pressure on the eardrum, like that felt when a plane lands, as the air in the chamber is compressed.
Hyperbaric oxygen chambers can also be used to treat patients suffering from such uncommon ailments as cyanide poisoning, gangrene, carbon monoxide poisoning, brown recluse spider bites or decompression sickness.
Your healing process
- Generally, the physician who is treating your wound will refer you. You can also make appointments directly.
- When you contact us for your first appointment, our staff will ask a few questions about your wound and health in general.
- Before beginning treatment, our team of doctors and nurses will thoroughly evaluate your wound and review your health and medical history.
- Tests might be conducted to tell us more about your blood flow and tissue oxygenation, as well as to determine if there is any infection present.
- Together, with your physician, we will develop a treatment program based on our assessment of your special needs. Your program will likely involve regular visits. Your progress is documented and adjusted as necessary.
- We communicate with your physician throughout your care. Once your wound is healed, you will return to your doctor for follow-up care. While being cared for, you may continue getting treatment from other physicians for any related ailments like diabetes and hypertension.
- We offer a comprehensive program of specialized management by clinicians trained in wound care, including treatment such as transcutaneous oxygen measurement, dressing changes, hyperbaric oxygen therapy and wound debridement. We also offer information on nutrition, infection control and other therapies.