Wound Care Center

Chronic wounds create a complex set of challenges. At the Middlesex Hospital Wound Care Center, we provide a full range of services for effective wound treatment. These services are designed to ensure efficient, standardized care with the flexibility to develop individualized treatment plans.

For more information, and to schedule an appointment, call: 860-358-2880

Office hours:
8:00AM – 4:30PM,
Monday through Friday

520 Saybrook Road
Suite 201
Middletown, CT 06457

192 Westbrook Road

Essex, CT 06426

Understanding why a wound is not healing properly

For most people, wound healing is a natural process.  But for some, it becomes a complex medical problem requiring specialized treatment and care.  There are two sets of factors that can impede the healing process. These include local factors and systemic factors. Examples of local factors include prolonged pressure on the wound, a dry environment at the wound site, infection, or localized tissue death (necrosis). Systemic factors are those that may be affecting the patient’s entire body, including age, body type, the presence of ongoing or chronic disease, poor nutrition, poor circulation or vascular disease, or the effects of medication. 

Using a planned, systematic approach which includes consideration of all factors which affect wound healing, the Wound Care Center treats four primary wound types:

• Venous Stasis Ulcers
• Diabetic Foot Ulcers
• Ischemic Ulcers
• Stage III and IV Pressure Ulcers

Ostomy care

Ostomy surgery is a procedure that creates an opening in the abdomen called a stoma. Whether temporary or permanent, ostomy surgery (e.g. colostomy, ileostomy, urostomy, ileal conduit) results in an alteration of bodily function. Our staff are experts in the assessment and evaluation of ostomies.

Our ostomy care services include:

• Teaching and counseling before and after surgery
• Stoma site selection
• Post-operative skin and stoma assessment and management
• Selection and teaching of appropriate appliance/pouch techniques
• Patient and family education

Diabetic Foot Care

Diabetes can be dangerous to your feet.  Diabetes causes nerve damage and decreased blood flow in your feet, leaving them less sensitive to pain, and less able to heal in the event of even a minor injury such as a cut or bruise.

That’s why the Middlesex Hospital Wound and Ostomy Care Center has introduced our Diabetic Foot Care Program.  This service provides:

• Initial risk screening
• Routine foot and nail care
• Appropriate referrals to other medical specialties such as podiatry, vascular surgery, and diabetic footwear

Services we provide to meet the challenge

Our team approach to wound care is what makes us so successful. The team is a physician-lead group of specialized health care professionals with training in all aspects of wound care.  We use the latest techniques for care, beginning with an evaluation of your health, your medical history and a thorough assessment of your wound.

The diagnostic and therapeutic steps may include:

• Assessment
• Infection control
• Debridement (removing dead tissue to promote healing)
• Application of appropriate dressings
• Bioengineered skin and collagen products
  
• Occupational and physical therapy
• Patient, family and/or caretaker education

What happens at the first visit?

Initially, your current health and medical history will be taken. It is important to provide a list of medications you are currently taking. We will then contact your insurer for authorization.

You will then be seen by a physician or other specialist from our wound care team. Our clinicians will develop a proactive and comprehensive care plan for your treatment and review it with you and your physician. Included in this plan will be a schedule for changing dressings and how often you will need to come to the Center.

Who pays for your treatment?

Wound care treatment is usually covered by most insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid. You can check with your provider to be sure, or our staff can contact them when you visit for the first time.

No referral is necessary

Patients can obtain care directly at the Middlesex Hospital Wound Care Center, or they may be referred by physicians or caregivers.

Our philosophy of care

Both physicians and patients rely on Middlesex Hospital to provide the diagnostic and therapeutic resources necessary to meet their health care needs. To continue to meet those challenges, we have created the Middlesex Hospital Wound Care Center, dedicated to the successful treatment of chronic, non-healing wounds. The Wound Care Center staff is committed to providing our community with the most current diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to wound healing.  It is our goal to improve the lives of patients by offering a comprehensive clinical wound care program that emphasizes the preservation of our patients’ dignity and self respect.