Mobile wound care and wound care at home in Princeton Heights.

Mobile wound care close to home in Princeton Heights

Princeton Heights is a quiet residential neighborhood in the southwest part of the city, close to the St. Louis County line. It is a place of brick houses, shade trees and short blocks, where many people have lived a long time. Getting to a clinic usually means a drive on city streets, which becomes hard after surgery or with a slow-healing wound. Care at home spares them that trip.

Homes in Princeton Heights are mostly single-family brick houses, many of them one-story or one-and-a-half-story bungalows, with a handful of apartment buildings and two-family flats mixed in. Basements, steps at the front door and a narrow driveway are common. Gateway arranges partner clinician visits in every kind of home here. Before the visit, we ask which entrance is easiest and whether the patient can reach the door or needs someone to let the clinician in.

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

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

When the visit comes to the home

For a family caregiver, the hard part of a parent’s wound is often the logistics: time off work, getting someone with a sore leg into a car, a long wait at a clinic. When Gateway arranges wound care at home in Princeton Heights, the visit comes to the house instead. You can be in the room, join by phone or ask for a call afterward, as long as the patient agrees. Tell us who helps with dressing changes and how much they can realistically do. The treating clinician uses that to build a plan the household can carry out. Our page for families caring for someone with a wound explains more.

Wound care in facilities in Princeton Heights

Rehabilitation stays are short and busy, and a wound can get lost between therapy sessions. For patients in rehabilitation centers in Princeton Heights, Gateway arranges wound visits around the therapy schedule, so the clinician can see the wound without costing the patient a session. The other priority is the next move. Before discharge, we ask where the patient is going, who will do dressing changes there and whether supplies and orders are in place. If follow-up at home or in a long-term care setting is wanted, it can be requested before the patient leaves, so the plan started in rehab continues with the same information.

Wounds you can call about

Referring offices, home health agencies and facilities in Princeton Heights 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 ulcers
• Venous leg ulcers
• Pressure injuries and bed sores
• Arterial and mixed wounds
• Non-healing wounds
• Post-surgical wounds
• Reopened (dehisced) surgical wounds
• Surgical site infections
• Skin tears and traumatic wounds
• Wounds with lymphedema
• Skin graft aftercare
• Wound VAC (NPWT) follow-up

See every wound condition and all wound care services.

Hospitals and discharge planning near Princeton Heights

Hospitals that people in Princeton Heights are commonly discharged from include Mercy Hospital South, SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital in Richmond Heights and SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital. Gateway is not affiliated with any of them. Discharge planners can send a referral, and families can call. We gather the discharge summary and wound orders and confirm that a partner clinician can visit the Princeton Heights address.

Hospitals and senior care near Princeton Heights

Nearby facilities for Princeton Heights, taken from public directories, are listed here as a reference.

• Hospitals nearby: Mercy Hospital South; SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital in Richmond Heights; SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital
• Skilled nursing and rehabilitation nearby: Mary, Queen and Mother Center (Shrewsbury 63119); Lutheran Convalescent Home (Webster Groves 63119); Bluebird Wellness and Rehabilitation (St. Louis 63123); Lansdowne Village (St. Louis 63116)
• Assisted living and memory care nearby: St. Louis Hills Assisted Living and Memory Care (St. Louis 63109); Chateau Ann Marie (St. Louis 63111); Laclede Commons (St. Louis 63119)

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) and the Missouri DHSS long-term care directory.

Primary care alongside wound care

Already have a primary care doctor you like? Keep them. Wound care arranged through Gateway in Princeton Heights does not replace your regular office. With your permission, we send the wound clinician’s visit notes and any order changes to that office and ask it for your recent labs and history. If you have no primary care clinician, or can no longer get to the one you have, tell us when you call. Arranging primary care at home is something we can look into for you.

Gateway also arranges primary care at home across St. Louis.

Getting care in Princeton Heights

For a call to 314-325-0126 about Princeton Heights, have the patient’s name, the street address and a phone number that will be picked up. Tell us whether the home has a driveway, a side door or a flight of steps, and who lives there. Because the neighborhood is near St. Louis Hills, Bevo Mill, Carondelet and Affton, a relative in one of those places can be asked about in the same call.

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

Have a few things within reach before you call 314-325-0126 about wound care in Princeton Heights:

• the address where visits would take place, and the facility name if there is one
• the insurance cards
• the names of the primary care clinician and any surgeon or specialist involved
• a medication list
• discharge papers or wound instructions from a recent hospital or clinic visit

Missing some of these is fine. Once you give permission, we can request records from other offices. The call itself is a conversation about what is going on and what you are hoping to arrange.

• County: City of St. Louis, Missouri (an independent city)
• ZIP codes: 63109
• Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Nearby: St. Louis Hills, Bevo Mill, Carondelet, Affton, Shrewsbury

Paying for care

Whether a visit is a covered benefit is the first thing most people ask, and the fair answer is that it depends. Three things decide it: the treating provider, your plan and the care that is needed. Gateway can take questions about coverage for Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial insurance, and we work with the treating provider’s office to check participation and benefits before a visit is scheduled. We tell you what we learn and what is still unknown, instead of guessing.

Common questions