Wound treatment unit part of hospital’s health, Blumenthal says

SHARON — “I wasn’t here in 1909 when Sharon Hospital was created,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal at last Thursday’s opening ceremony for the hospital’s new wound center (Sept. 29). “But I was here when the hospital almost closed, when it was struggling to stay open.”Blumenthal was Connecticut’s attorney general in 2002, when the small rural facility converted from a nonprofit to a for-profit, under the ownership of Essent Healthcare in Nashville, Tenn. “People said at the time that, this little hospital, it would never work,” Blumenthal said to a small crowd awaiting the wound center’s ribbon cutting. “There aren’t enough patients, they said. There aren’t enough doctors. Financially, it’s doomed, they said.“You proved the naysayers wrong,” he said. “You, in the community and on the hospital staff, have shown how this hospital can and will succeed in years to come.”The hospital recently announced a planned partnership between Essent and another small, Nashville-based health-care company, RegionalCare. The two companies hope to increase their strength and negotiating power by joining Essent’s three hospitals with the four owned by RegionalCare.The debut of the new wound care center, with two hyperbaric chambers, seems to be an indication of the hospital’s overall strength.The idea for the wound center was first presented about two-and-a-half years ago by Kimberly Lumia to then-CEO Charlie Therrien. Other projects came along that put the wound center idea on the back burner for a while.Therrien has since left Sharon to run a hospital in Maine; Lumia is now president and CEO of the hospital. And the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine took its first patients on Monday, Oct. 3.“The dream has now become a reality,” Lumia said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony. She thanked all the staff members and building professionals who helped get the project done on time and under budget. She thanked the hospital’s surgical staff, who now have their offices in the wound center. And she said “We’re very excited to be partnering with Diversified.” Diversified Clinical Services is a company based in Jacksonville, Fla., that provides wound care services to about 325 hospitals across the country.Sharon’s new wound center will be on the ground floor of the rear section of the building, which is home to the recently completed Women’s Center. The general surgery office has 2,000 square feet in the center. The wound care facility will occupy 2,300 square feet, including one room dedicated to the two hyerbaric chambers. The goal of the center overall and of the chambers specifically is to provide aid to patients who have wounds that won’t heal, a particular problem for the elderly and for people with diabetes. This will be the first and only hyperbaric facility in Litchfield County. At present, patients have to travel to other facilities (most commonly to Poughkeepsie) for this type of intensive wound treatment. “When you survey the community for its needs, you find that there are a lot of people with diabetes and chronic illnesses that relate back to wound care,” said Jill Groody Musselman, the hospital’s director of marketing and public relations. “The number is higher than the average for other areas in the state, partly because there is a higher percentage of older people here. “When you have a chronic wound, until now you’ve had to travel long distances to get it cared for, and you need to get frequent treatment.”Patients can be referred for treatment at the center by their regular physician, or they can self-refer, Musselman said. Either way, the center will keep the patient’s physician in the loop on all care at all times.For more information, call the hospital at 860-364-4444.