Mobile wound care and wound care at home in Soulard.

About mobile wound care in Soulard

Soulard is one of the oldest residential neighborhoods in St. Louis, just south of downtown, near the riverfront. Its blocks of brick buildings, corner taverns and small gardens surround Soulard Market, a longtime gathering place where neighbors shop on weekends. Streets such as Lafayette Avenue, Russell Boulevard and Broadway run through or along it. Some residents have lived here for most of their lives. When a wound or illness limits trips outside, care at home keeps them connected to a neighborhood they know.

Row houses define Soulard: narrow brick buildings that sit right at the sidewalk, often with a few front steps, a tall interior stair and a small back courtyard. Many have been divided into flats, and some older residents rent or own a single level. Stairs are the main obstacle to getting out. Gateway arranges partner clinician visits in these homes, in nearby apartments and in senior housing. Care at home means the clinician climbs the stairs, not the patient.

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

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

When the visit comes to the home

Living alone with a wound in Soulard raises practical questions. Who looks at a spot you cannot see, such as a heel or the back of a leg? Who notices when it changes? Home visits arranged through Gateway put a clinician’s eyes on the wound at intervals the clinician sets, and they give you someone to call in between. The same visits can be arranged in independent senior apartments, where no nursing staff is on site. If the treating clinician decides you need help with dressing changes, a home health referral can be requested. When a test has to happen in an office, we help arrange the appointment and the ride.

For residents of senior living and nursing facilities

When your relative lives in a facility in Soulard, 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.

Wounds you can call about

Some wounds on this list are new, such as a surgical incision or a skin tear. Others have been open for months. In either case, Gateway can arrange for a partner clinician to assess the wound at home or in a facility in Soulard and to set the plan from there.

• 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.

Coming home from the hospital

Patients from Soulard are commonly discharged from SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, Barnes-Jewish Hospital or Mercy Hospital South. Gateway is not affiliated with these hospitals. Discharge planners can send a referral by phone or fax, and family can call as soon as a going-home date is set. We request the discharge summary, ask about wound orders and supplies, and confirm whether a partner clinician is available for the Soulard address.

Hospitals and senior care near Soulard

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

• Hospitals nearby: SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital; Barnes-Jewish Hospital; Mercy Hospital South
• Skilled nursing and rehabilitation nearby: Lansdowne Village (St. Louis 63116); Oak Park Care Center (St. Louis 63139); Life Care Center of St. Louis (St. Louis 63103); Carrie Elligson Gietner Health Care Center (St. Louis 63111)
• Assisted living and memory care nearby: Silver Spur (St. Louis 63118); St. Louis Hills Assisted Living and Memory Care (St. Louis 63109); Chateau Ann Marie (St. Louis 63111)

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 at home in Soulard

Families and facility staff in Soulard often end up as the go-between, repeating the same history to a wound clinician, a primary care office and a specialist. Arranging wound care and primary care together cuts down on that. One request to Gateway starts both. We gather the records once, share them with each treating clinician and keep a single contact list for the care team. When the wound clinician recommends a lab test, a referral or a change the primary care clinician should weigh in on, we route it to them.

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

Getting care in Soulard

Calling about someone in Soulard? Have the street address and say whether the entrance is at the front sidewalk or through a courtyard or alley gate. Parking is mostly on the street and can be tight on market days, so share any preferred side of the block. Please have a phone number that will be answered, the name of the regular doctor and the dates of any recent hospital stay. Lafayette Square, Benton Park and downtown are covered too.

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

Prefer not to start with a phone call? Use the request care form. It asks only for a name and a phone number, so please leave medical details out of it. Someone from Gateway calls back, and that conversation is where you explain the wound, the address in Soulard and any insurance questions. You can also call us directly at 314-325-0126. Either way, the next steps are the same: we confirm whether a partner clinician can see the patient in that location, collect the records the clinician will want and schedule the first visit with you.

• County: City of St. Louis, Missouri (an independent city)
• ZIP codes: 63104
• Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Nearby: Lafayette Square, Benton Park, Downtown St. Louis, South St. Louis, Tower Grove

Paying for care

Medicaid questions need a little extra detail because the region spans two states. Missouri’s program (MO HealthNet) and Illinois Medicaid are separate, each with its own plans and rules, and coverage from one state generally does not carry over to the other. Tell us which state issued the coverage, the plan name on the card and whether the patient also has Medicare. The treating provider’s participation and the benefits for the care needed are then checked for that specific plan. Our guide to Medicaid and wound care lists what to ask. Gateway does not decide coverage.

Common questions