At Senior Health Care Solutions, we know that wound care is of the utmost importance especially in our aging population.
A person could sustain any number of wounds throughout life, and some are obviously more serious than others. With seniors, however, things can get more complicated, and that’s because the skin gradually loses its natural ability to heal itself as we age.
That’s why we take wound care so seriously here at Senior Health Care Solutions. A simple cut or scrape may not seem like a big deal to a younger person, but in the elderly, it could take a long time to heal and even present complications if not treated properly.
When residents in any of our facilities get injured and need a wound care nurse to assist them, you can rest assured they will get the care they need.
Learn more below about what wound care entails at Senior Health Care Solutions.
Why Is Wound Care So Important?
Think about the last time you got a serious cut on your skin. What was the healing process like? Depending on the type of cut it was, it probably stung for a few days whenever anything touched it. Maybe it even bled again if you bumped it against something. It might have been red and inflamed, as well.
Cuts like that eventually heal, but for seniors, things aren’t so simple. Their skin doesn’t heal and regenerate as easily as a younger person’s. What might take a young person a few days to get over could take a senior a month.
This is why wound care is so vital for seniors. At Senior Health Care Solutions, our philosophy as part of our skilled nursing services is to help seniors maintain their independence. Part of that is being free from lingering wounds.
That’s why our wound care nurses address wounds in our resident population as soon as possible before they get worse and start to cause bigger problems.
What Types of Wounds Can Seniors Sustain?
Seniors can sustain any type of wound to their bodies that younger people can. Once again, it’s important to remember that these wounds can be far more serious in seniors than in the rest of the population.
Our wound care services at Senior Health Care Solutions can help to heal the following types of wounds, and more:
- Cuts
- Scrapes
- Punctures
- Burns
- Insect bites
- Abrasions
- Tears
- Pressure ulcers (bedsores)
- Hematomas (damage to blood vessels beneath the skin)
Each type of wound listed here can be major or minor, but our wound care nurses treat each wound with the same level of care and attention.
Health Issues Can Affect Wound Healing
One important point to make here is that a variety of other health conditions can affect how quickly and how well a senior recovers from a wound.
For example, proper blood flow helps wounds to heal, since blood delivers oxygen and other helpful nutrients to the wound site. However, certain health conditions can prevent normal blood flow to the body, such as being confined to a bed or having a heart condition.
Our wound care nurses know that these and other factors can slow down or prevent wound healing:
- Malnutrition
- Immobility
- Heart diseases
- Circulation issues
- Diabetes
- Cancer
We consider all these complications when administering wound care to our residents in need. We also watch wounds as they heal to check for signs of infection. Again, an infected wound might be an easier solution in a younger patient, but with seniors, everything can become more complicated.
If we identify more soreness, redness, or swelling around a wound, we could determine it has become infected, and we will take the proper measures to address it.
Patient-First Wound Care for Our Seniors
At Senior Health Care Solutions, we know that wounds carry more weight with seniors. That’s why our wound care nurses put so much effort into addressing the wounds of our residents as they arise, so they can recover as fast as possible and get back to doing the things they enjoy.
Contact us at (570) 969-2188 to learn more about the wound care services at any of our Senior Health Care Solutions centers!
