Dedicated to Your Recovery

To the majority of people, wound healing is an ordinary, everyday process. But for an estimated seven million Americans, wounds become a serious medical issue.

When wounds haven’t improved in four weeks or haven’t completed healing within eight weeks, they are classified as chronic, nonhealing wounds. These wounds are extremely difficult to effectively treat on your own or at your regular doctor’s office. Chronic wounds can pose severe health risks and result in life-threatening infections, amputation and debilitating complications.

The good news is that you don’t have to suffer.

Our multidisciplinary wound care team uses the most advanced therapies available for healing, such as autologous skin harvesting. A viable alternative to skin grafting, this revolutionary therapy can be performed without anesthesia by harvesting a patient’s outer layer of skin with heat and negative pressure.

In addition to our advanced healing therapies, we address the underlying cause of the wound—such as malnutrition, lack of exercise, poor hygiene and pressure-related issues—to help reduce the potential for recurrence.

To treat these medical conditions, we integrate your personalized wound care therapy with your ongoing care.

The team involved in your care may include:

• Infectious disease specialists
• Advanced practice nurses
• Physical therapists
• Physical therapist assistants
• Wound care nurses
• Ostomy nurses
• Diabetes specialists
• Podiatrists

Attentiveness to our patients’ needs is a top priority at all our hospitals. St. Catherine Hospital’s mission of “one team under one roof” brings together a team of physicians, nurses and physical therapists that address your wound healing as quickly as possible without shuffling you around to different departments. You are also assigned a wound specialist who will accompany you every step of the way on your wound healing journey.

All specialists consult with one another to evaluate wounds and give you treatment options that best fit your personal needs. Wound specialists conduct your initial examination and decide which additional tests may be needed. We also work in cooperation with your primary care physician to promote wound healing and wellness.

Specialized Services

Below is a list of specialized services offered by each Community Healthcare System Hospital:

St. Catherine Hospital
Housed within Therapy Services, St. Catherine Hospital’s Wound & Ostomy Clinic uses a multidisciplinary team approach to treat patients. Since non-healing wounds can flag other underlying medical conditions, we integrate personalized, wound care therapy with ongoing healthcare. The team, which specializes in lymphedema care and ultrasonic debridement, assigns one wound specialist to you to coordinate your care from the first exam through treatment. Patients treated through Home Health also have access to St. Catherine Hospital’s wound services.

Wound & Ostomy Clinic at St. Catherine Hospital
(Inpatient and Outpatient Services)
4321 Fir Street
East Chicago, IN 46312
Phone: 219-392-7400

St. Mary Medical Center
St. Mary Medical Center provides outpatient wound and ostomy care at its Outpatient Rehabilitation Center and wound care at Willowcreek Health Center. Its team offers continence care therapies and treatments to help patients retrain their pelvic muscles and regain control of their lives.

Outpatient Rehabilitation Center of St. Mary Medical Center
320 W. 61st Street
Hobart, IN 46342
Phone: 219-947-6448

Willowcreek Health Center for Wound Treatment
(Portage Outpatient Center)
3170 Willowcreek Road
Portage, IN 46368
Phone: 219-947-6385

Community Hospital
Community Hospital offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient wound and ostomy care. This spring, the hospital pioneered treatment that uses a patient’s own skin cells to harvest and grow new skin to close wounds. The autologous harvester is a device that creates friction to grow new skin that can graft an open wound. This procedure, performed without the need for anesthesia, can be a viable alternative to traditional skin grafting done in surgery.

Wound Healing & Ostomy Clinic at Community Hospital
Medical Office Building
901 McArthur Boulevard
Munster, IN 46321
Phone: 219-836-7713

To learn more about Wound & Ostomy Care at Community Healthcare System, or call the free physician referral line call 219-836-3477 or 1-866-836-3477.