Mobile Wound Care in St. Louis | Gateway Wound Care

The clinician and the care team.

A Gateway clinician assesses the wound and directs treatment. When a wound needs additional expertise, the plan can involve podiatry, vascular care or another specialist.

Home health or facility nurses may carry out dressing care between clinician visits. Gateway keeps the orders and follow-up connected. Learn about wound care house calls and nurse practitioner and nursing roles.

Why families choose mobile wound care

No transport or waiting rooms. No lifts into the car, no wheelchair vans, no hours in a waiting room for a short appointment.
Care where the patient lives. The clinician sees the bed, the chair, the shoes and the bathroom, and can set a plan that fits the home or the facility.
Caregivers can be there. The family member or aide who changes the dressing can watch, ask questions and learn the next change in person.
Appointments in partner clinics. An office visit provides another setting for wound assessment and treatment.
Records and supplies coordinated. Gateway gathers records, coordinates orders and supplies, and shares the plan with the family, the home health agency and the patient's other doctors.

What mobile wound care in St. Louis means

Mobile wound care in St. Louis means the clinician travels and the patient stays home. A Gateway clinician comes to the house, apartment or senior living unit, examines the wound there and sets the plan of care. For many families, wound care at home in St. Louis takes the place of repeated car rides, transfers and waiting rooms.

Gateway does the arranging. We take the request, confirm that visits are available at the address, gather records, schedule the visit and coordinate orders, supplies and follow-up. The treating clinician makes every clinical decision.

Who mobile wound care helps

Home visits make the most sense when getting to a clinic is hard, risky or exhausting. That often includes:

People who use a wheelchair, walker or lift, or who cannot manage stairs safely
People who rarely leave home because of illness, and may need wound care for homebound patients
People with a foot wound who have been told to keep weight off it
People just home from a hospital or rehab stay with a surgical wound, pressure injury or wound VAC
People living with dementia, for whom a trip to a clinic is confusing or upsetting
People with a chronic wound that needs regular follow-up
Older adults whose wounds are slower to heal, covered in wound care for seniors
Family caregivers who cannot leave work for frequent appointments

What a home visit involves

A home visit covers much of what a clinic visit does. The clinician asks how the wound started, what has been tried and which medications the patient takes. They look at the wound, measure it and check the skin around it. For a leg or foot wound, they may also check swelling, circulation and feeling in the feet.

A few things help the visit go well: good light, a chair or bed where the patient can rest comfortably, the current medication list and any supplies already in the house. Our guide to getting ready for a home wound care visit has a short checklist.

Before leaving, the clinician explains what they found, what the plan is, who changes the dressing between visits and which changes to report. Ask for the instructions in writing if they are not offered.

What the treating clinician may do

Every plan is individual, and the treating clinician decides what is appropriate. Depending on the wound and the home, the clinician may:

Carry out a wound assessment and measurement and compare it with earlier visits
Choose dressings and set a schedule for dressing changes
Remove unhealthy tissue from the wound when that can be done safely in the home (see debridement at home)
Order compression therapy for a leg wound with swelling
Recommend offloading to take pressure off a foot wound
Follow a wound VAC at home after surgery or a hospital stay
Check for signs of infection and order tests or prescriptions when needed
Arrange a referral to a vascular or other specialist when the wound needs one

Some things cannot be done in a living room. If a procedure, imaging or a specialist visit has to happen somewhere else, the clinician will explain why, and Gateway helps with the appointment and transportation arrangements.

Wounds treated with mobile visits

Gateway clinicians see most kinds of slow-healing and complex wounds at home or in senior living. Each guide below explains the wound, what the treating clinician looks at and what to report.

How visits are arranged

You contact Gateway. Call 314-325-0126 or send a callback request. The form takes a name and phone number only, so keep medical details for the phone call.
We confirm the address and setting. Visit availability depends on location and on whether the patient is in a private home or a senior living community.
We gather what the treating practice needs. That can include recent records, hospital discharge papers, current wound orders and insurance information.
The visit is scheduled. We tell you what to have ready.
We follow through afterward. Gateway coordinates wound supplies and equipment, sends updates to the other clinicians involved and schedules the next visit the treating clinician asks for.

For a step-by-step look at the visit itself, read how mobile wound care visits work.

Who can request a visit

Patients can call for themselves. Family members and caregivers can call for someone else. No referral is required to start the conversation.

Professionals can refer too. Home health nurses, primary care offices, surgeons, podiatrists, discharge planners, case managers and assisted living staff can refer a patient or fax records to 314-786-7966.

If you are calling for another adult, it helps if that person knows and agrees. If they cannot speak for themselves, tell us who makes their health care decisions.

Working with home health and primary care

Mobile wound care does not replace home health or your regular doctor. It works next to them.

A home health nurse may already be changing the dressing during the week. The treating wound clinician assesses the wound, updates the wound orders and decides when the plan should change. Gateway works with the agency so its nurses have the current orders, which is the purpose of wound care coordination with home health.

Your primary care doctor stays in charge of your overall health, including conditions such as diabetes or heart disease that affect healing. With your permission, Gateway keeps that office informed. If you have no primary care clinician who can see you at home, ask us about in-home primary care in St. Louis.

Areas covered in Greater St. Louis and the Metro East

Gateway arranges home visits in St. Louis City and across St. Louis County, including South County, North County, Kirkwood, Webster Groves and University City.

Across the Missouri River, we coordinate care in St. Charles County, including St. Peters. To the south, that includes Jefferson County. In Illinois, we coordinate care across the Metro East, including Belleville and Edwardsville.

Availability is confirmed for each address. The service area page lists every community.

Coverage and cost questions

You can ask about Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial plans. Whether a home visit, a dressing or a piece of equipment is a covered benefit depends on the treating provider, your plan and the care you need. Gateway cannot tell you in advance what a plan will pay. Our insurance questions page explains what to have ready.

Good questions to ask before the first visit:

Which practice will be seeing me, and does it participate with my plan?
Does my plan need a referral or an authorization for home visits?
How are dressings and supplies handled under my plan?
Who do I call with a billing question?

Our guide to Medicare and wound care goes through these in more detail.

Changes to report between visits

Call the treating clinician’s office if you notice any of these before the next visit:

Redness, warmth or swelling that is spreading
More pain than before
More drainage, or drainage that changes color or smell
Fever or chills
A dressing that will not stay on, or a wound VAC alarm you cannot clear

Call 911 for bleeding that will not stop, chest pain, trouble breathing, sudden confusion or a person who cannot be woken. Gateway is not an emergency service.

Common questions

Is mobile wound care the same as home health?

No. Home health comes from an agency, usually nurses and therapists who visit under a doctor’s orders for a limited period. Mobile wound care is a visit from a treating clinician who assesses the wound, decides on the plan and writes orders. Many patients have both. Our guide on home health versus mobile wound care compares them.

Do I have to be homebound to have wound care at home?

Not necessarily. Homebound is a term insurance plans use for certain services, mainly home health. Whether it applies to your visits depends on your plan and the treating provider. Tell us how hard it is for you to leave home and why, and we will explain what to check. Our guide on what homebound means explains the term.

How often will the clinician come to my home?

The treating clinician sets the visit schedule based on the wound and how it is responding. Some wounds need to be seen more often at first and less often later. Gateway schedules the visits the clinician asks for, and availability depends on your location.

Who changes the dressing between visits?

It depends on your situation. A home health nurse, a family caregiver, staff at a senior living community or the patient may do it. The clinician’s orders say which dressing to use and how often to change it. If nobody at home can manage the changes, say so at the visit so the clinician can plan around it.

Where do the wound supplies come from?

The treating clinician orders the dressings and supplies the plan calls for. Gateway coordinates the order with a supplier and follows up on delivery to the home. Coverage for supplies depends on your plan. If a delivery is late or the wrong item arrives, call us. Our guide to questions about wound supply orders lists what to ask.

Can a family member be there during the visit?

Yes, if the patient agrees. A family member can help answer questions, hear the instructions and learn what to watch for. If you cannot be there in person, ask whether you can join by phone. Tell Gateway who should get updates so the right person is called after each visit.

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.

Mobile wound care in St. Louis.