Page 60 - Robeson Living Summer 2021
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SWHC SUPPORTS EIGHTH ANNUAL
WOUND CARE AWARENESS WEEK
WITH EDUCATIONAL CAMPAIGN
Pictured: Kim Jean
Jean’s foot-related issues resulted in surgery to remove a toe
in June 2020. An additional injury to her foot caused Jean to
have increased issues with wounds, but because she had to be
hospitalized due to a COVID-19 diagnosis, Jean had to delay
treatment for her foot condition.
After her battle with COVID-19, Jean was able to focus on
needed treatment for her foot condition, for which she was fac-
ing possible amputation. Upon consulting with her primary
care physician and surgeon who were both located out of town,
she requested to receive her treatment at Southeastern Wound
Healing Center, which is just minutes away from her home.
“I wish I had gone sooner,” said Jean. “If someone would have
told me when I began treatment that I would have been healed
to this level, I never would have believed them. ‘Absolutely
amazing’ is all I can say about it. This is a great setting for
Southeastern Wound Healing Center, an affiliate of UNC people who may be in danger of losing a limb, toe or foot.
Health Southeastern and member of the Healogics network, is There’s got to be a light at the end of the tunnel, and this office
helping raise awareness of the risks of chronic wounds during and the people in it have been my light. I go there and leave
the eighth annual Wound Care Awareness Week, which was feeling wonderful.”
June 7-11.
Jean has received five weeks of HBO therapy every weekday
Healogics established Wound Care Awareness Week in 2014 for two hours.
to bring attention to the growing need for wound care and the
nearly 7 million Americans currently living with non-healing “It has been absolutely amazing the progress that I’ve seen,”
wounds. Program directors across the nation will dedicate the added Jean. “I truly believe this wouldn’t have happened if it
entire week to educating physicians, patients and the general hadn’t been for not only the therapy but the people there.”
public about the chronic wound epidemic and the advanced
wound care solutions are available. Southeastern Wound Heal- The incidence of chronic wounds is rising due to our aging
ing Center offers advanced therapies to patients suffering from population and increasing rates of diseases. A person with
chronic wounds. a wound has an average of three to four chronic conditions
like diabetes, PAD, cardiovascular disease and COPD. If left
Kim Jean, 61, of Lumberton, is currently receiving hyperbaric untreated, chronic wounds can lead to diminished quality of
oxygen, or HBO, therapy at Southeastern Wound Healing Cen- life and possibly amputation of the affected limb. Even more
ter for the treatment of wounds on her feet which are the result alarmingly, 50 percent of people die within five years of am-
of issues related to diabetic neuropathy, a condition where pa- putation.
tients with diabetes experience numbness in their extremities,
including the feet. To support this underserved and growing population of people
Page 60 Robeson Living ~ Summer 2021