Mobile wound care and wound care at home in Godfrey, Illinois.

Mobile wound care close to home in Godfrey

Godfrey lies just north of Alton on the bluffs above the Mississippi, where the Great River Road heads upriver toward Grafton. It covers a wide area for a village. Subdivisions cluster near Godfrey Road, while other homes sit on large lots or beside farm fields farther out. The space is part of the appeal, but it means a medical appointment involves a drive into Alton or across the Clark Bridge toward St. Louis, which is hard on someone with a painful wound or limited strength. Arranging care at home or in a facility takes that drive away.

Homes in Godfrey are mostly single-family: ranch houses in established subdivisions, newer homes on larger lots and older farmhouses on the outskirts. The village and neighboring Alton also have senior apartments, assisted living, memory care and skilled nursing facilities. Gateway arranges visits in each kind of setting. In a private home, we ask who will be there, whether pets need to be secured and where the patient is most comfortable being seen. In a facility, we contact the nursing staff to line up the visit, the chart and any orders the treating clinician will need to review.

The main guide to mobile wound care in St. Louis explains who it helps and how visits are arranged.

For people in Godfrey weighing a clinic against home visits, the St. Louis wound care guide explains how each works.

Home visits in Godfrey

Getting to a wound clinic again and again is hard when walking hurts, when you use a wheelchair or when the person who drives you works days. Wound care at home in Godfrey is meant for those situations. Gateway arranges for a partner clinician to see you where you live, whether that is a house, an apartment or a senior living building. It often suits people who:

• have a leg, foot or pressure wound that makes travel painful or unsafe
• are recovering from surgery or a hospital stay
• depend on a relative or a ride service for every appointment

The treating clinician decides whether home visits fit your wound and what the plan should be.

Skilled nursing, assisted living and rehabilitation

When your relative lives in a facility in Godfrey, you are usually not in the room when the wound is seen. You can still be part of the plan. With the resident’s permission, or as the legal health care decision-maker, you can ask who is treating the wound, when it was last measured and what happens next. Useful steps:

• ask the nurse manager which day the wound clinician visits
• request that the wound be discussed at the next care plan meeting
• give the facility and Gateway one family contact for updates

Gateway can also set up a call with the wound care team when the floor staff cannot answer your question.

Types of wounds

Referring offices, home health agencies and facilities in Godfrey can use this list as a guide to what Gateway coordinates. It is not exhaustive. If a patient has a wound that does not fit a category, send the request anyway, and the treating clinician will determine what is appropriate.

• Diabetic foot ulcer care in Godfrey
• Venous leg ulcer care in Godfrey
• Pressure injury and bed sore care in Godfrey
• Arterial and mixed wound care in Godfrey
• Non-healing wound care in Godfrey
• Post-surgical wound care in Godfrey
• Care for a reopened surgical wound in Godfrey
• Wound follow-up after a surgical site infection in Godfrey
• Skin tear and traumatic wound care in Godfrey
• Wound care with lymphedema in Godfrey
• Skin graft and donor-site aftercare in Godfrey
• Wound VAC and NPWT follow-up in Godfrey

See every wound condition and all wound care services.

Coming home from the hospital

Both hospitals that serve Godfrey are a short drive south: Alton Memorial Hospital and OSF Saint Anthony’s Health Center in Alton. Neither is affiliated with Gateway. When a patient is headed home to Godfrey, or to a nearby facility, follow-up can be requested by the family or referred by the hospital’s discharge planner. Gateway gathers the discharge summary, wound orders and medication list, and arranges a visit with a partner clinician. We also let the patient’s regular doctor know that follow-up is being arranged, so everyone is working from the same information.

Hospitals and senior care near Godfrey

People in Godfrey often know these places by name. The list is drawn from public directories so you can get your bearings.

• Hospitals nearby: Alton Memorial Hospital; OSF Saint Anthony's Health Center in Alton
• Skilled nursing and rehabilitation nearby: Bria of Godfrey (Godfrey 62035); Alton Memorial Rehab & Therapy (Alton 62002); Eden Village Care Center (Glen Carbon 62034); Nexus at Alton (Alton 62002)

Gateway is not affiliated with any facility listed here, and a listing does not mean a partnership or referral relationship. If the patient lives in one of them, tell us its name when you call so we can contact the right nurse or front desk.

Sources: Medicare Care Compare nursing home data (CMS).

Looking after the whole patient

Closing a wound is one goal. Keeping the next one from opening is another, and that work belongs largely to primary care. Regular skin and foot checks, attention to swelling and blood sugar, and a plan for staying mobile all lower the chance that a healed wound comes back. For patients in Godfrey, Gateway can arrange for primary care follow-up to continue after wound visits end, so a clinician is still watching the things that led to the wound.

Primary care at home in Godfrey →

Getting care in Godfrey, Illinois

When calling about someone in Godfrey, be ready with the address and ZIP code (62035), directions if the house is off a rural road, a phone number, and the name of the hospital or doctor involved. Gateway also arranges care in Alton, across the Riverbend and elsewhere in Madison County. Godfrey is spread out, so where the home is located can affect which visit times are possible. We confirm availability for the address and care setting before scheduling.

Visits are confirmed by location and care setting, so call 314-325-0126 with your ZIP code to ask about your address.

Getting started in Godfrey takes one call.

1. Call Gateway at 314-325-0126, or have a family member or caregiver call for you.
2. Tell us where the person lives (home or facility), a little about the wound and who is treating it now.
3. We confirm whether a partner clinician is available for that location and go over your coverage questions.
4. We gather records and set up the first visit.

You do not need a referral to make the call. From the first visit on, the treating clinician makes the clinical decisions.

• County: Madison County, Illinois
• ZIP codes: 62035
• Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Nearby: Alton, Alton and the Riverbend, Madison County, Illinois

Paying for care

People with Original Medicare can ask Gateway what to expect before a wound care visit at home or in a facility. Have your red, white and blue card and any supplement (Medigap) card with you on the call. Good questions to ask about Medicare include:

• Does the treating provider participate with Medicare?
• What part of the cost might be my responsibility?
• Are dressings and supplies handled separately from the visit?

The answers depend on the provider and the care ordered, so they are confirmed case by case.

Common questions