Wound care in St. Louis, coordinated around you

Start with the right wound care option

For wound care in St. Louis, the best next step depends on the wound, urgency, travel and the care already in place. This hub connects the condition, care setting and follow-up plan rather than sending you to several competing starting points.

• Mobile wound care and wound care at home in St. Louis: home assessment and follow-up when clinically appropriate, with clear roles for everyday care.
• Wound care near you: confirm your town, county and actual address.
• Wound conditions: learn about foot ulcers, pressure injuries, leg wounds and surgical wounds.
• How referrals work: a practical route for physicians and discharge teams.

A mobile visit cannot replace tests, procedures or urgent treatment that need another setting. Partner clinicians determine the plan. Gateway connects scheduling, records and follow-up.

Wound care in St. Louis, arranged around the patient

Gateway coordinates wound care with independent partner clinicians at home, in your facility or senior living community, or at one of our partner locations. Partner clinicians assess and treat the wound, while the coordination team connects records, orders, supplies and follow-up across your care team.

You do not need to know what kind of wound you have, and you do not need to have a referral. Tell us where the patient is and what is going on, and we will explain what the next step looks like. This page is a full guide to the kinds of wounds people call about, the places care can happen, the areas we cover and the questions families ask most.

Your clinician and the team around the visit.

Partner clinicians assess wounds, direct treatment and follow progress. Our coordination team handles scheduling, records, supply orders and communication with the other people involved in care.

When a test, specialist visit or treatment requires travel, we help arrange the appointment, records and transportation. Learn more about how Gateway works and our approach to coordination.

The right clinical expertise

The treating clinician determines what the wound needs and when another specialist should be involved. Foot wounds may call for podiatry; circulation concerns may need vascular assessment. The care plan connects those decisions with follow-up.

See wound care house calls and the roles of nurse practitioners and wound care nurses.

Wound types we help coordinate

People call about fresh wounds, wounds that keep reopening and wounds that have been slow to close for weeks or months. Each link below goes to a page that explains that type of wound, what the treating clinician looks for and what to ask.

• Foot and leg wounds: diabetic foot ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, arterial and mixed wounds, heel and foot pressure ulcers, leg swelling with weeping skin and lymphedema wounds
• Pressure and moisture: pressure injuries and bed sores and moisture-associated skin damage
• After surgery or a procedure: post-surgical wounds, dehisced wounds, surgical site infections, skin graft aftercare, amputation site wounds, abscess and drained wounds, pilonidal wounds and wound VAC follow-up
• Injuries: skin tears and traumatic wounds and burns and scalds
• Slow, infected or complex wounds: non-healing wounds, tunneling and undermining wounds, cellulitis and infected wounds, atypical and inflammatory wounds, cancer-related wounds and radiation skin injury

If you are unsure which description fits, start with the wound conditions overview or just call. The treating clinician will assess the wound at the visit, and if it needs a different kind of care, the clinician will say so.

What wound care visits usually involve

The exact plan belongs to the treating clinician, but most wound care follows the same general pattern. The clinician looks at the wound, measures it and notes how it looks and drains. They ask about health conditions, medications, pain and what has been tried. Then they set a plan and decide when to check the wound again.

Depending on the wound, that plan may touch on several areas that Gateway can help coordinate:

• Wound assessment and measurement, so changes can be tracked from one visit to the next
• Dressing selection and changes, with supplies delivered to where the patient is
• Compression therapy for some leg wounds, when the clinician decides it is appropriate
• Offloading for foot wounds, which means taking pressure off the area
• Infection monitoring and follow-up
• Vascular and specialist referral coordination when another specialist needs to weigh in

Your treating clinician selects the treatment. Gateway coordinates the supplies, records and follow-up that support it.

At home, in your facility or at partner locations.

Visits can take place at home, in your facility or senior living community, or at one of our partner locations.

• Home visits. Mobile wound care brings assessment and follow-up to patients who find travel difficult.
• Partner-clinic appointments. An office setting provides another way to receive care and can connect treatment with equipment or specialist services.
• Senior living and skilled nursing. Wound visits are coordinated with community staff, attending clinicians and families. Learn about facility wound rounds.

After a hospital stay, discharge follow-up connects the instructions with the clinician who sees you next.

How to get wound care in St. Louis in 3 steps

1. Call or ask for a callback. Phone 314-325-0126, or use the request care form. The form asks only for a name and phone number, so keep medical details for the call. Tell us the city or ZIP code, whether the patient is at home or in a facility, and who is already involved in their care.
2. Gather records. Have insurance cards nearby, along with a list of current doctors, any home health agency and recent hospital or surgical paperwork. Gateway requests the records and orders the treating practice needs, and tells you if anything is missing.
3. Prepare for the first visit. Once we confirm that a visit can be arranged for that location, we schedule it. Read preparing for your first wound care visit and getting ready for a home wound care visit for a simple checklist.

Where we arrange wound care by county

Gateway coordinates care on both sides of the Mississippi River. Availability is confirmed by address, so call with the street, town or ZIP code. These are the areas we hear from most.

St. Louis City

The St. Louis City page covers the city as a whole. Neighborhood pages include South St. Louis, North St. Louis, Central West End, Downtown St. Louis, Tower Grove, Soulard, The Hill and Dogtown.

St. Louis County

The St. Louis County page is the starting point for the inner suburbs and the county as a whole. Local pages include Clayton, Kirkwood, Webster Groves, University City, Florissant, Ballwin, Creve Coeur and Chesterfield and West County. You can also read about North County and South County.

St. Charles County

For the western suburbs, see St. Charles County. Town pages include St. Charles, St. Peters, O’Fallon, Missouri, Lake St. Louis, Wentzville, Cottleville and Dardenne Prairie.

Jefferson County

Jefferson County lies south of the city. Local pages include Arnold, Festus, Imperial, Fenton, Oakville and Mehlville.

Franklin County

Franklin County is west of the metro area. Pages for nearby communities include Washington, Missouri, Eureka, Wildwood, Weldon Spring and Manchester. Call with the exact address, since the travel distance can affect how a visit is arranged.

Metro East

In Illinois, see the Metro East page. Local pages include Belleville, Edwardsville, Alton, Collinsville, Granite City, Fairview Heights and Glen Carbon.

If your town is not listed, check the full service area directory or call 314-325-0126.

Wound clinic or wound care at home: how to choose

Neither choice is right for everyone. A wound clinic can be a good fit when someone can travel comfortably, the wound needs equipment that only an office has or a specialist needs to see it in person. Care at home tends to fit people for whom getting out the door is itself a burden, such as those with limited mobility, pain, oxygen equipment, fall risk or no reliable ride.

Consider a few questions: How hard is it to get to appointments? Does the wound need a procedure that cannot be done at the bedside? Who helps at home? Does the patient have a caregiver who can be present? The guide on wound clinic vs. wound care at home walks through these in more detail. The treating clinician decides which setting is appropriate, and the answer can change over time. Some patients are seen at home first and later go to an office for a specific step.

Working with your doctors and your home health agency

Wound care arranged through Gateway adds to the care you already have. You keep your primary care doctor, your surgeon and your specialists. With your permission, Gateway shares updates so the treating clinician knows your history and your doctors know the wound plan.

If a home health agency is already visiting, tell us. Gateway does not provide home health services. We are not a home health agency, and we do not replace one. When a patient has an agency nurse coming to the house, we work with your home health agency so the wound plan, the supplies and the visit schedule do not conflict. Our page on wound care for home health patients explains how that works, and agencies themselves can read about coordinating with home health agencies.

Primary care alongside wound care

A wound is often tied to the rest of a person’s health. Blood sugar, circulation, swelling, nutrition and some medications can all affect how skin heals. For that reason Gateway also arranges primary care at home with partner clinicians, including diabetes care, circulation and vascular health and nutrition and healing.

When one person needs both, we coordinate primary care and wound care together so the two plans work in the same direction.

Warning signs to report

Wounds can change quickly, and the treating clinician wants to hear about it. Call your doctor or the clinician’s office promptly if you notice:

• Redness that is spreading, or new warmth or swelling around the wound
• Pain that is getting worse
• Drainage that increases, changes color or smells bad
• A wound that is getting larger or deeper, or new black or dark tissue
• Fever or chills

Our guide to the signs of wound infection explains these in more detail, and describing wound changes to your care team helps you give clear, useful information on the phone. Call 911 for bleeding that will not stop, chest pain, trouble breathing, sudden confusion or a person who is hard to wake.

Support for families and caregivers

Many of the people who call us are not the patient. They are a daughter, a spouse or a neighbor trying to arrange care for someone else. You can call on someone’s behalf, and we will ask about the patient’s situation and who has permission to receive updates.

The pages for patients and family caregivers cover what to expect, and wound care for seniors explains how care works for an older parent at home or in senior living. Practical guides such as keeping a wound care visit notebook and planning transportation for wound care can make visits smoother.

For hospitals, facilities and physicians

Discharge planners, case managers and social workers can refer a patient who will need wound follow-up. Use the referral request or email [email protected] to ask for the approved secure records-transfer process. We tell you which records or orders are still missing and confirm whether a visit can be arranged at the discharge address. See the page for hospitals and discharge planners for what to send.

Directors of nursing and wound nurses can ask about scheduled rounds, documentation after each round and supplies on the skilled nursing facilities page. Physicians who refer keep their patient, and the for physicians page describes how records and updates flow back to the referring office.

Questions to ask at the first visit

A wound visit goes better when you arrive with questions. It helps to write them down beforehand, because the visit can move quickly. Good questions for the treating clinician include:

• What type of wound is this, and what is likely keeping it from closing?
• How often should the wound be checked, and who will do each visit?
• What should I do between visits, and what should I leave alone?
• Which changes should I report, and who do I call when I see them?
• Do other health problems, such as diabetes, poor circulation or swelling, need attention for the wound to improve?
• Is another specialist needed, and who arranges that appointment?

Ask the clinician to explain the answers in plain language, and ask a family member to listen in if you want a second set of ears. If you use hearing aids, glasses or an interpreter, mention it when you call so the visit can be set up around it. The guide on asking for communication support at wound visits has suggestions.

Supplies, follow-up and staying organized

Wound care depends on steady follow-through. A good plan can fall apart when supplies run out, orders expire or no one knows who is supposed to change a dressing. Gateway helps with the logistics behind the plan, including wound supplies and DME coordination, reminders about upcoming visits and updates to the people involved in the patient’s care.

Some follow-up can happen by video or phone when the treating clinician decides it fits, and our page on telehealth wound follow-up explains when that may be an option. If you called and have not heard back, the guide to following up on a wound care request lists what to do next.

Why early attention matters for wounds

Skin that has been broken for a long time is harder to manage than a wound that is looked at early. People often wait because the wound does not hurt, because they assume it will close on its own or because getting to an appointment is hard. Neuropathy in diabetes can mean a foot wound causes little pain at all, and swelling in the legs can hide a small break in the skin.

Prevention matters too. Regular skin checks, pressure relief for people who spend long hours in a bed or chair, and attention to nutrition and moisture all play a part. Read about pressure injury prevention at home and in facilities, or the guide to diabetic foot ulcer warning signs. If a wound has not improved, a second opinion review for a non-healing wound may be worth asking about.

Insurance questions

You can ask us about Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid and commercial plans. Participation and benefits depend on the treating provider, your plan and the care needed, so no web page can tell you what a plan will pay.

Have your cards nearby when you call. Questions worth asking your plan include whether the treating provider participates, whether a visit at home or in a facility is treated differently and whether an authorization is needed. Our insurance page and the guide to insurance and cost questions for wound care list more.

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Common questions

Related pages

• Wound doctor at home in St. Louis
• Wound care for seniors
• Wound care nurse at home
• Bed sore treatment at home
• Wounds that will not heal
• Mobile wound care at home
• Wound conditions
• Service area
• Wound clinic vs wound care at home
• Facility wound rounds
• Request care
• Wound care near me