Oneida Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing Raising Awareness of Proper Wound Care in Seniors
June 25, 2019
According to the American Board of Wound Management (ABWM), Americans spend a collective $50 billion on wound care each year; and with over two million people in this country suffering from chronic wounds, that price tag is going to keep going up.
The ABWM is hoping to reduce this burden on healthcare professionals by educating the public on proper wound care, and they have declared June as Wound Care Awareness Month to help accomplish that goal.
Wound Healing Awareness Month — or WHAM for short, which fits the ABWM’s comic book-style branding of the event — was founded in 2016.
In addition to providing resources for in-home caregivers, the ABWM offer certification programs for medical professionals that allow them to facilitate better outcomes for people who have complex or hard-to-heal wounds.
Even if you aren’t in the healthcare industry, you can learn a lot on the Resources page of the ABWM’s website. There, you can read about over 3,000 types of wound dressings available, organizations that are dedicated to educating the public on wound care, plus links to books and journals that go in-depth on a specific topic that may be applicable to you or someone you are taking care of.
Wound care in skilled nursing facilities such as ours is such a big part of what we do to keep residents healthy. We would be happy to answer any questions that you may have of our care team when it comes to their experience in wound care. With proper care and management, most wounds can be dealt with safely in the home and avoid hospitalization, which could potentially lead to a host of other problems for people with weakened immune systems.
