St. Joseph Regional Burn Center
St. Joseph Burn and Wound Clinic
Burn and wound care services at St. Joseph Hospital have relocated to 18,000 square feet of renovated space on the facility’s second floor. Over the past year, St. Joe invested $7 million to relocate and expand the inpatient burn center and the outpatient burn and wound clinics. Combining the center and clinics allows physicians from both specialties the ability to collaborate and offer medical and surgical services in one state-of-the-art location while also improving resources, enhancing accessibility for patients and families and improving overall patient outcomes. The outpatient burn and wound clinics receive about 11,800 patient visits annually.
Burn Services
The renovation expands the number of patient rooms in the burn center from nine to 12, three of which are dedicated pediatric rooms with kid-friendly designs. Pediatric patients account for nearly one-third of total inpatient burn cases.
Once a patient is admitted to the burn center, the goal is to keep him on the unit as much as possible until he is ready for discharge to limit the increased risk of infection. This means that patients are not moved to other floors of the hospital for tests or surgical procedures unless the procedure cannot be performed in the unit.
Burns, even minor ones, can be serious business. St. Joe’s outpatient burn clinic is open 24/7. Call 260-425-3567 to talk to a nurse. A physician referral is not necessary.
The unit houses an isolated surgical suite where microvascular and reconstructive surgeries are performed. Unlike regular operating rooms, the temperature in the burn center’s OR remains at 90-95 degrees to accommodate the burn patients who cannot maintain their body heat. Although patients remain at a comfortable temperature in the OR, surgeons and technicians often change their sweat-soaked scrubs every one to two hours.
The burn center is the region’s only verified burn center and is one of only three in the state of Indiana. The center is verified by the American College of Surgeons and the American Burn Association, a rare distinction for a nonuniversity program. St. Joe is the only burn center in Indiana verified in both adult and pediatric burn care.
Trauma patients with severe burns living in a 150-mile radius of Fort Wayne are flown to St. Joe for the specialized burn care no other hospital in the area provides, such as skin grafting and transplantation.
Wound Care
The St. Joseph Wound Clinic, which began treating patients in 1990, treats nonhealing wounds that persist for more than six weeks and is an essential resource for those living with diabetes. The clinic is also well-known for housing Indiana’s largest multiperson hyperbaric oxygen chamber, which remains on the hospital’s sixth floor. Learn more about the St. Joseph Wound Clinic here.
Click here for tips on taking care of a minor wound.