Scotland Wound Healing Center Honored with National Award

Scotland Wound Healing Center, which opened last May, has received two national awards for its service to the community from National Healing Corporation (NHC), an industry leader which accounts for more than 30 percent of the nation's managed and outsourced wound healing centers.

The Scotland Wound Healing Center, which specializes in the treatment of chronic wounds and non-responsive conditions with state-of-the-art methodologies and treatments, received the New Center of the Year Award and the Front Runner Award.

General surgeon Dr. Brian Parkes, the Center's Medical Director, stated, "The Scotland Wound Healing Center was recognized for this award because we have an extraordinarily dedicated group of ten physicians and nurses who are committed to the care of these patients. This in turn has maximized the number of patients we were able to see in our first year."

Dr. Parkes says serving as the Center's medical director is a great experience for him professionally. "This role has really broadened not just my horizon, but that of all of our physicians and staff. We all feel better as we see a wound start to heal and patients getting better. I'm very gratified that our doctors have really gotten behind this service. No single physician could have made this Center the success it is. We learn from each other, which makes us all smarter and better doctors."

The physicians in the Wound Healing Center represent a variety of medical specialties, including: Doctors Steve Lanuti and Brian Parkes, general surgeons; Doctors Ralph Carter, Paul Rush, and John Smid, orthopedic surgeons; Doctors John Neal and Taneka Williams, family medicine physicians; Dr. Patrick Ricotta, podiatrist; Dr. Brad Bethel, internal medicine; and Dr. Harvey Kohn, ob/gyn. "This is what's so great about our Center," Dr. Parkes stated. "We can optimize the medical management of many of our cases. We don't provide primary care, but we do work with the primary care doctors of our patients."

Patients come from a wide area around Scotland County. "Patients with really complicated leg, abdomen, breast, and head wounds are now healed, thanks to the Wound Healing Center," continued Dr. Parkes. My worse case was a patient whose foot was a huge sore with infection in the underlying bone. We worked on this patient for a long time and were able to prevent an amputation below the knee. Through continuous wound care and coordinating surgery with the patient's orthopedic surgeon, the wound is almost completely healed and the patient will be walking on that foot again soon."

Dr. Ralph Carter, orthopedic surgeon, has treated a patient with a serious chest wound from radiation received years ago. "The collarbone was infected and bone was exposed," Dr. Parkes continued. "Dr. Carter and I worked on this patient, debriding it and providing treatment in the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. The wound is now forming a great bed of scar tissue and as soon as a skin graft is done, the patient will be in great shape."

NHC Chief Operating Officer James M. Tyler presented the New Center of the Year Award to program director Paula Davis and Clinical Nurse Manager Terri Nance, saying, "So much goes on behind the scenes in opening a new wound healing center to make sure that patients receive absolute top quality care from day one. The physicians and entire team at the Scotland Wound Healing Center were tireless in their efforts and unwavering in their dedication to bring leading edge wound care to their community."

The Scotland Wound Healing Center specializes in the treatment of chronic wounds and non-responsive conditions and offers hospital-based outpatient wound care as well as disease management and diabetes care. It offers leading edge therapies including hyperbaric oxygen therapy, the use of vascular studies, tissue culturing and pathology, revascularization, skin grafting and clinical or surgical debridement. Likely candidates for treatment are those suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and wounds that haven't healed within 30 days.

Scotland Wound Healing Center is located at 500 Lauchwood Drive, in the Community Health and Rehabilitation Center. Call (910) 291-7711 or visit www.scotlandhealth.org.

Pictured (Left to Right): Paula Davis (Program Director), Dr. Brian Parkes (Medical Director), Sharon Rogers (Office Coord.), Heather Norton, RN (Case Manager), Terri Nance, RN (Clinical Manager), Valerie Strickland, RN (Case Manager), Lonny Strickland (CNA/Secretary) and Kristie Dilling, LPN (HBO tech)

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About National Healing Corporation

Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., National Healing Corporation provides management services and the latest technology and expertise in wound healing to its client hospitals to establish quality wound healing programs. The Joint Commission has awarded National Healing Disease-Specific Care Certification for Wound Care. Committed to health care compliance and best practice medicine, National Healing emphasizes these priorities in its extensive clinical and business training programs. The privately-held company accounts for 30 percent of all managed and outsourced wound centers in the United States. For more information, please visit www.nationalhealing.com.