Healogics®, the nation's wound healing expert, is proud to participate in a national diabetes awareness campaign October 29 through November 2. This campaign will highlight the important connection between diabetes and chronic wounds and their recurrence. Throughout this week, Wound Care Centers® from across the country will dedicate their time to visiting local physician offices to provide education on the treatment of potential or existing chronic wounds for people also living with diabetes.
An estimated 30.3 million people in the United States have diabetes, and the percentage of adults with diabetes increases with age, reaching a high of 25.2 percent among those aged 65 years or older. In addition to age, risk factors for diabetes also include diet, activity level, obesity and heredity. Approximately one in four people living with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer. Even more alarmingly, people with healed a diabetic foot ulcer have a recurrence rate of nearly 40 percent within the first year.
"More than 50 percent of the patients who find care at our Wound Care Centers are living with diabetes," said Carol Murdock, Healogics Chief Marketing Officer. "Diabetes Awareness Month is an important time for us to remind people of the correlation between diabetes and chronic wounds. Early detection and intervention can help to mitigate the possibility of limb loss. So, this month especially, we feel responsible for spreading the word and raising the level of awareness of diabetic foot ulcers and the advanced wound care available."
Healogics Wound Science Initiative SM, launched in September 2017, strives to advance the science, awareness and practice of wound care, especially as it relates to people living with diabetes. Through research, technology and collaboration Healogics has been able to create and share meaningful content in the field of diabetes research. Some of the content includes:
- Etiology specific variation in comprehensive healing rate and time to heal
- Treatment consistency, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) and diabetic wound of the lower extremity
- HBOT and diabetic foot ulcer outcomes
Proper wound care techniques are imperative to healing diabetic foot ulcers and preventing amputation. Each Healogics Wound Care Center's comprehensive approach to wound management utilizes the latest clinical tools and traditional clinical practices. A patient's individualized treatment plan may include specialized wound dressings, debridement, compression therapy, advanced cellular products and topical growth factors, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, edema management and/or non-invasive vascular assessment.
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