About pressure injuries

Anyone who cannot easily change position is at risk, at any age. That includes people recovering from a hip fracture or major surgery, people with a spinal cord injury or advanced multiple sclerosis who use a wheelchair full time, people weakened by a stroke, and people in the later stages of dementia or another serious illness.

Loss of feeling matters as much as loss of movement. Someone with nerve damage may not notice the ache that tells the rest of us to shift. Very thin people have less padding over bone. People who wear oxygen tubing, splints, braces or casts can develop the same kind of injury wherever a device presses on skin. Several of these risks often appear together in one person.

What the treating clinician looks at

The first visit starts with a close look at the wound itself. The treating clinician notes exactly where it is, measures its length, width and depth, and checks whether it extends under the skin edges. The type of tissue in the wound bed matters, as does the amount and color of drainage and the condition of the skin around it.

From these findings the clinician assigns a stage, or records that the wound cannot be staged yet because its base is hidden. The same measurements are repeated at later visits. Comparing them over time is how the clinician judges whether the current orders are working or need to change.

Local context: Hazelwood

People in Hazelwood with a pressure injury often move between settings: home, a hospital stay, a few weeks of rehabilitation, then perhaps assisted living or skilled nursing close by. Each move brings a new bed, new caregivers and a risk that the turning plan and wound orders get lost. Gateway arranges wound care in private homes and in senior living and nursing facilities across Hazelwood, and helps the latest measurements and orders travel with the person.

Hazelwood stretches along Interstate 270 in North County, an irregularly shaped city bordered by Florissant, Bridgeton and the land around Lambert airport. Warehouses and business parks share the map with residential streets, and Lindbergh Boulevard ties the two together. People here are used to getting on the highway for almost everything. That works until a health problem makes travel difficult. Wound care and primary care brought to a Hazelwood home or care facility let treatment go on without a highway trip each time, which matters most for patients who depend on someone else to drive.

At home between visits

A home visit shows the treating clinician things an office visit cannot: the mattress the person actually sleeps on, the chair they sit in most of the day, and how transfers happen in that room. For a pressure injury, those details are often the cause of the wound.

Gateway schedules the visit with a partner clinician once availability is confirmed for your address. Leave the bed and chair set up as they normally are. If the person uses a cushion, pillows or a lift, keep them in place. The clinician decides how often to return based on how the wound is doing.

Care in skilled nursing and assisted living

People often arrive at a rehabilitation center with a pressure injury that began in the hospital, or with fragile skin after surgery and days in bed. Therapy adds a new question: how long can the person sit in a wheelchair or on a mat without harming the wound? The treating clinician, nursing staff and therapists work that out together.

Rehab stays are short, so planning for what comes next begins early. Gateway can help arrange for wound care to continue after discharge, whether the person goes home or to another facility, so that orders, records and supplies follow them and care does not start over.

What to report and when to call 911

Some of the most useful reports are not about the wound at all. They are about changes that put more pressure or moisture on the skin. Let the treating clinician know when:

  • A new area of discolored skin appears somewhere else on the body
  • The person can no longer shift, turn or tolerate a position they used before
  • Incontinence starts or gets worse, or dressings keep getting soiled
  • An air mattress, cushion or heel protector stops working or is not being used
  • Eating or drinking drops off, or weight is falling

These are not emergencies. Call 911 for chest pain, trouble breathing, heavy bleeding or sudden unresponsiveness.

Primary care and overall health

The body builds new tissue from what a person eats and drinks, and a pressure injury raises the demand. Someone who has lost weight, eats only a few bites at meals, has trouble swallowing or has poorly fitting dentures may not be taking in enough protein, calories or fluid to keep up.

A primary care clinician can look for the reason appetite has fallen, review weight over time and decide whether a dietitian or a swallowing evaluation would help. Gateway can arrange primary care in the same home or facility where wound visits take place, so the clinician who orders the dressing and the clinician who looks at nutrition are working from the same information.

Primary care at home in Hazelwood →

Getting care arranged in Hazelwood

You may already have a surgeon, a wound clinic or a home health nurse and still want help with pressure injury care closer to home in Hazelwood. That is a fine reason to call 314-325-0126. Tell us who is treating the wound now and what is not working, whether that is the travel, the gaps between appointments or unclear instructions. Gateway does not replace your current clinicians. We can arrange for a partner clinician to see the wound where you live and, with your permission, share notes with the offices already involved so the plans agree.

Hazelwood addresses can be confusing because the city has an irregular outline and borders several other municipalities. When you call, give the full street address in 63042 and the name of the apartment complex or subdivision. Have a daytime phone number and the name of the patient’s doctor. Tell us if the clinician should call on arrival instead of knocking. Nearby, Gateway also arranges care in Florissant, Bridgeton, Ferguson, Maryland Heights and across North County, and Hazelwood visits can be planned with those.

  • County: St. Louis County, Missouri
  • ZIP codes: 63042
  • Nearby hospitals: SSM Health DePaul Hospital in Bridgeton; Christian Hospital in North County (not affiliated with Gateway)
  • Nearby communities: Florissant, Bridgeton, Ferguson, Maryland Heights, North County
  • Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Other conditions and nearby communities

Read the full guide to pressure injuries, or see everything Gateway arranges on the mobile wound care in Hazelwood page.

Common questions

How do we start pressure injury care for a family member in Hazelwood?

Call Gateway or send the request form with a name and phone number only. You do not need a referral to call. On the phone we will ask where the person lives, how long the sore has been there, which hospital or doctor has seen it and what insurance they have. From there we gather records and work on scheduling with a partner clinician.

What should we have ready before the first wound care visit?

Have a current medication list, any hospital or rehab discharge papers, the insurance cards and the dressings you are using now. Write down when the sore was first noticed and how it has changed. Jot down your questions too, including who to call between visits. If several people share caregiving, try to have the main helper present to hear the plan.

Can a wound care clinician come to a home in Hazelwood to look at a bed sore?

Gateway arranges home visits by partner clinicians for people with pressure injuries, and availability is confirmed by location and care setting. When you call 314-325-0126, we ask for the address, whether the person is at home or in a facility, and who is already involved in their care. We then tell you what can be arranged for that address.

I work shifts and my mother is alone during the day in Hazelwood. Can visits be planned around my schedule?

Tell us your schedule and we will try. Gateway looks for a visit time when you or another helper can be there, though we cannot promise a specific hour, since timing depends on clinician availability in Hazelwood. If no one can be present, the clinician can call you during or after the visit with your mother’s permission, and we can relay scheduling updates by phone.

General information to help you talk with your own clinician. It is not medical advice, and the treating clinician makes every clinical decision. For a medical emergency, call 911.