FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, April 19, 2010
For more information contact: Michael Burke, Marketing and Media Coordinator at 530-225-6113
The Mercy Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center Offers Tips for People with Diabetes
(Redding, CA) – Each year one in 20 people with diabetes will develop a foot ulcer which may result in chronic non-healing wounds and, in extreme cases, lead to amputation. Tragically, those cases are hardly isolated: on average a staggering 235 amputations a day are performed in the United States on patients with diabetes.
“Most people with diabetes know the importance of checking blood sugar levels, while the importance of daily foot exams is underemphasized. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that comprehensive foot care programs can reduce diabetes-related amputation rates by 45 to 85 percent,” says Katherine J. Rowland, chief clinical officer for National Healing Corporation.
During National Foot Health Awareness Month in April, the local experts at the Mercy Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, a National Healing Corporation Wound Healing Center, recommend these foot care tips:
- Don’t count on foot pain to alert you to problems since diabetes can cause changes in the skin on the feet as well as nerve damage which can impair sensation of feeling. Visually inspect your feet and between your toes for blisters, cuts and red spots and swelling.
- Avoid crossing your legs: this can cause pressure on the nerves and blood vessels, possibly causing damage.
- Sit with your feet up to keep the blood flowing to them. Two or three times a day, wiggle your toes and move your ankles up and down for five minutes.
- Your feet contain a million sweat glands. Always wear properly fitting socks made of cotton and wool and change your socks and shoes twice a day.
- Don’t go barefoot. Feel inside your shoes before putting them on to make sure they don’t have tears in the lining or foreign objects.
- Cut toenails straight across and don't trim them too short. Use an emery board to smooth corners of toenails or ingrown nails.
- While Medicare and many health care providers will reimburse a portion or all of the cost of shoes and custom inserts prescribed by a doctor, don’t buy more than one insert at a time in case the size or shape of your foot changes.
- Don’t pull loose pieces of skin off your feet. See a health care professional to have them removed.
- Seek medical treatment if a leg or foot wound has not healed in 30 days or shows signs of infection such as increased pain, redness or swelling, foul wound odor or a change in color or amount of drainage from the wound.
For more information about diabetes management and the prevention and treatment of chronic wounds, contact the Mercy Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center at Mercy Medical Center Redding. Call (530) 245-4801 or log on to: redding.mercy.org/wound.
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About Mercy Medical Center Redding: Mercy Medical Center Redding has been named the recipient of the National Research Corporation’s Consumer Choice Award for the greater Redding area for 2009/10. This means local consumers, ranked MMCR as the best for overall quality; best image and reputation; best doctors and best nurses for the third year in a row. Mercy Medical Center Redding is a member of CHW North State with Mercy Mt. Shasta and St. Elizabeth Community Hospital in Red Bluff. For more information please visit www.mercy.org or call 530-24-Mercy (246-3729).
About the Mercy Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center: The Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Center at Mercy Medical Center is located at 1950 Rosaline Avenue, Suite A. As a National Healing Corporation Wound Center, it specializes in the treatment of chronic wounds and non-responsive conditions. The center offers hospital-based outpatient wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy as well as disease management and diabetes care. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has awarded National Healing Corporation Disease-Specific Care Certification for wound care. Call (530) 245-4801 or log on to: redding.mercy.org/wound for more information.
