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 an assessment covers

Part of every assessment is deciding whether the wound needs more than dressings and pressure relief. The treating clinician checks for signs of infection in the wound and the tissue around it, and looks for dead tissue that may be slowing progress. In a deep wound, the clinician considers whether bone could be involved.

Depending on what is found, the clinician may order lab work or imaging, or refer the person to a surgeon or another specialist. None of this is automatic. Each step is the clinician’s decision, based on the wound, the person’s health and the goals of care. Gateway helps arrange any orders or referrals that follow.

Pressure injury and bed sore care in Wentzville

Across Wentzville, the main family caregiver often works a full day and has a commute on top of it. That can leave a person with a pressure injury in one position for many hours. Tell the treating clinician exactly when help is and is not in the house. The plan can then lean more on the support surface, on paid caregivers or home health, and on positions the person can manage alone, instead of a turning schedule no one is home to follow.

Where Interstate 64 ends at Interstate 70, at the western edge of St. Charles County, Wentzville has changed from a small town into a fast-growing city. New subdivisions spread in several directions, and beyond them the land opens toward Warren and Lincoln counties. Many specialists’ offices are farther east in the county or across the Missouri River. For a family caring for someone with a wound or a chronic illness, each appointment can mean time off work and a long highway trip. Bringing care to the home or facility takes that trip away.

At home between visits

Dressings are only part of what a pressure injury needs at home. The treating clinician may also order a pressure-redistributing mattress or overlay, a wheelchair cushion, heel protection or a hospital bed. Gateway follows up on those orders with suppliers and lets you know what to expect about delivery.

Dressings usually arrive in quantities meant to last until the next order. Check the box against what the clinician ordered, store it somewhere clean and dry, and tell us before the last few are used. Once equipment arrives, keep the instructions and the supplier’s phone number handy. Tell the clinician if a mattress feels flat, a cushion has shifted or the person will not tolerate it.

For residents of nursing and senior living communities

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.

Signs to tell the clinician about

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

Tissue under pressure survives on blood flow, so anything that reduces circulation or the oxygen carried in the blood makes a pressure injury more likely and harder to close. Diabetes, peripheral artery disease, heart failure, chronic lung disease and anemia are common examples. Heels are especially sensitive to poor circulation in the legs.

These conditions are managed in primary care. When the wound clinician and the primary care clinician can see each other’s notes, a wound that has stalled can prompt a fresh look at blood sugar, circulation or blood counts. Gateway arranges both kinds of visits and helps keep records moving between them.

Primary care at home in Wentzville →

Getting care arranged in Wentzville

Setting up pressure injury care for someone in Wentzville usually goes in this order:

  1. You call 314-325-0126 or send the request care form, which asks only for a name and phone number.
  2. Gateway talks with you about the wound, the address and the insurance.
  3. We confirm availability for that location and gather records for the treating clinician.
  4. The clinician visits, assesses the wound and writes the orders.
  5. We follow up on supplies, the next visit and communication with your other clinicians.

You do not need a confirmed diagnosis to start.

When you call about care in Wentzville, have the address, the subdivision name and a nearby cross street, since newer streets are not always on older maps. Also have a phone number, the doctor’s name and any discharge instructions. Gateway coordinates care in Lake St. Louis, O’Fallon, Dardenne Prairie and across St. Charles County too. Wentzville sits at the western edge of the county, so visit availability is confirmed by location and care setting before anything is scheduled.

  • County: St. Charles County, Missouri
  • ZIP codes: 63385
  • Nearby hospitals: SSM Health St. Joseph Hospital in Lake Saint Louis; Progress West Hospital in O'Fallon (not affiliated with Gateway)
  • Nearby communities: Lake St. Louis, O'Fallon, Missouri, St. Charles County, Dardenne Prairie
  • Care settings: Private homes, skilled nursing, assisted living, memory care and rehabilitation

Related care in Wentzville

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

Common questions

Can a wound care clinician come to a home in Wentzville 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.

What is debridement, and will my family member need it?

Debridement means removing dead tissue from a wound so healthy tissue can grow and infection is less likely. There are several methods, some using dressings or ointments and some done by a clinician with instruments. Not every pressure injury needs it, and in some situations it is avoided. The treating clinician decides whether, when and how, and will explain the reasons.

Should a bed sore be left uncovered so it can dry out?

In general, no. Clinicians usually keep pressure injuries covered with a dressing chosen to hold the right amount of moisture, protect the wound from stool and urine, and cushion it from rubbing. A wound left open to dry tends to form a hard crust that slows new tissue. Follow the treating clinician’s dressing orders and ask before changing anything.

Can I request care for my mother in Wentzville while I am at work in St. Louis?

Yes. Family members can call Gateway from anywhere, and you do not need to be at the house to start a request. Tell us who will be home for the visit and the best number to reach you during the day. We coordinate scheduling around the household and, with your mother’s permission, update you after visits.

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.