Wound Healing & Hyperbaric Services

Most wounds, including minor cuts and scratches, burns and abrasions, heal on their own within two to four weeks. However, sometimes wounds take longer to heal - or stop healing altogether - due to blood flow problems, infection, underlying health conditions or poor nutrition. When this happens, the unhealed or non-healing wound is defined as a chronic wound. These wounds typically do not get better on their own, and require special care.

The wound care teams at MultiCare include specially trained nurses, physicians and nurse practitioners who have dedicated their careers to advanced wound care. We apply evidence-based medical and surgical techniques that focus on treating the cause of chronic wounds and healing them quickly, so that you can get back to your life.

With our focus on outcomes and our commitment to use available modern treatments and techniques, our team often beats the national average for healing chronic wounds.

A feature of our services is our Hyperbaric Oxygen Treatment (HBOT) program, which utilizes two of the most comfortable and up-to-date, large HBOT chambers in the region.

Expert teamwork, coordinated care, advanced technologies and excellent outcomes are all locally accessible and available at MultiCare Wound Care.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who will I see when I come to the Wound Healing Center?

Your wound care team may include:

• Diabetes Counselor
• Infectious Disease Specialist
• Nurses trained in advanced wound management techniques
• Nutritionist
• Plastic Surgeon
• Podiatrist
• Vascular Surgeon
• Wound Care Provider
• Wound and Ostomy Specialist

What type of wounds are treated?

The team treats all types of skin ulcers:

• Any wound that has not healed in 4 weeks
• Arterial Ulcers
• Compromised grafts or flaps
• Delayed complications from radiation
  • ​Osteo Radionecrosis
  • Soft Tissue Radionecrosis
• Diabetic Ulcers
• Non-healing surgical wounds
• Pressure Ulcers
• Trauma and minor burns
• Ulcers caused by bone infection (Chronic Refractory Osteomeyelitis)
• Venous Ulcers

What are the treatment options?

Treatment methods may include:

• Cleaning the chronic wound and "converting" it to an acute wound so that your immune system will help us heal it
• Advanced wound dressings that reduce pain
• Dressings that reduce infection without the need for antibiotics
• Cell and tissue-based technologies to close the wound earlier
• Special devices to reduce pressure
• Compression wraps to reduce the fluid in your legs
• Negative Pressure Wound Therapy
• Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy to increase oxygen in the cells promoting new blood vessels and new cells to speed healing

What should I expect at my first visit?

1. Please be prepared for us to ask you a lot of questions about your wound, pain and your overall health, as well as other conditions you have and medications you take.
2. Bring your medications with you so we can enter their correct name and dosage in your medical record. You can also bring us a list of all the medications you take as long as it has the correct name, dose, delivery method (by mouth, ointment, etc.) and frequency.
3. Plan for your first visit to take about an hour and a half, bring a snack, some water and any vital medications you may need to take during this time.
4. It would be very helpful if you bring your records from the last provider who treated you for your wound, if your last provider was not a MultiCare provider.