Center for Wound Healing Opens at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset

(Somerville, N.J.) – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) has announced the opening of the Center for Wound Healing, an outpatient center offering state-of-the-art treatment options for patients with chronic, non-healing wounds. The Center for Wound Healing will be located near the main lobby on the RWJ Somerset campus at 110 Rehill Avenue, Somerville, NJ. Leading the new center will be co-medical directors Brandon Zuklie, DPM, board-certified podiatric surgeon, and Robert Segal, MD, board-certified infectious disease and internal medicine specialist at RWJ Somerset.

“Between 5 and 7 million Americans experience at least one form of chronic wound annually and the incidence of these types of wounds is increasing by approximately 10 percent each year,” said Dr. Zuklie. “Many of these individuals suffer from wounds that refuse to heal despite conventional treatment. These chronic, non-healing wounds seldom involve a simple answer.”

The new center will be similar to the Center for Wound Healing on RWJ’s New Brunswick campus, which is led by co-medical directors Richard Schachter, DPM, podiatric surgeon at RWJUH, and Randy Shafritz, MD, FACS, vascular surgeon at RWJUH and assistant professor of surgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. The wound healing centers provide a comprehensive approach to treating patients with chronic, non-healing wounds. The highly-skilled team features physicians, nurses and technicians with advanced training in wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO). Both centers provide state-of-the-art HBO, individualized treatment plans, case management for complex patients and inpatient consultation services.

The center’s patients are examined and evaluated for all possible physical conditions, such as diabetes, that could interfere with proper healing. The care team follows evidence-based clinical pathways to determine why wounds are not healing and then develops individual treatment plans, utilizing the most effective technologies available to provide maximum healing and relief.

HBO promotes healing by increasing the level of oxygen in the tissue and improving the healing efficiency of the white blood cells. Therapy is administered inside a hyperbaric chamber that delivers 100 percent oxygen with increased atmospheric pressure, stimulating the entire body’s natural healing responses. Patients undergoing therapy have complete privacy inside comfortable, individual chambers equipped with televisions and headphones for entertainment.

HBO is especially beneficial for diabetic patients with non-healing ulcers, as well as those with arterial ulcers and other types of wounds that fail to respond to conservative therapy. In addition, HBO treats conditions without open wounds, such as radionecrosis and osteoradionecrosis, osteomyelitis and idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

Patients who are prescribed HBO typically require two-hour treatment sessions five days a week. Each session requires 10 to 15 minutes to reach the necessary atmospheric pressure before a 90-minute treatment, and then another 10 to 15 minutes to return to normal atmospheric pressure.

“Our new Center for Wound Healing in Somerville enables us to expand our quality care in the Central Jersey region and meet an increasing need in the communities we serve to streamline their care experience,” added Dr. Segal. “Our program is unique in that each treatment modality is customized to the individual patient, utilizing advanced technologies to improve outcomes. With our two locations at the Somerville and New Brunswick campuses, patients will now have access to our experienced multidisciplinary team and advanced treatment methods closer to home.”

The Center for Wound Healing at RWJ Somerset will start seeing patients on October 1, 2015. It will be open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information about wound care, please visit www.rwjuh.edu/woundcare. To schedule an appointment at the Somerville location, please call (908) 203-6200 or to schedule an appointment at the New Brunswick location, please call (732) 418-8084.

For more information on RWJUH, please visit www.rwjuh.edu. For a referral to a physician affiliated with RWJUH, please call 1-888-MD-RWJUH. Follow us on Twitter at www.rwjuh.edu/twitter and Facebook at www.rwjuh.edu/facebook.

About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson Health System

Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH) is the flagship hospital of Robert Wood Johnson Health System – New Jersey’s premier health system which boasts three acute care hospitals: RWJUH in New Brunswick and Somerville; RWJUH- Hamilton and RWJUH- Rahway and a national leader in pediatric rehabilitation: Children’s Specialized Hospital, as well as five fitness and wellness centers and numerous outpatient facilities. Through RWJ Health System, patients have access to exceptional women’s and children’s services and expert cancer, cardiac, emergency, neurology, stroke, trauma and pediatric rehabilitation care in addition to comprehensive health and wellness programs.

RWJUH is a 965-bed academic medical center with campuses in New Brunswick and Somerville, NJ. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, joint replacement, and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). As the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey and the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, RWJUH is an innovative leader in advancing state-of-the-art care. A Level 1 Trauma Center and the only Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.

RWJUH has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report seven times and has been selected by the publication as a high performing hospital in numerous specialties. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report for three consecutive years.

Both the New Brunswick and Somerset campuses have earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety, including the prestigious Magnet® Award for Nursing Excellence, an “A” patient safety rating from the Leapfrog Group and “Most Wired” designation by Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine. The Joint Commission and the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services have designated the New Brunswick Campus as a Comprehensive Stroke Center and the Somerset Campus as a Primary Stroke Center.

The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH New Brunswick among the nation’s best comprehensive cancer centers and designated the Steeplechase Cancer Center at RWJ Somerset as a Comprehensive Community Cancer Center. The Joint Surgery Center at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Somerset has earned the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for total knee and total hip replacement surgery.

For more Information visit us online at www.rwjuh.edu.