New Home for Wound Center at GBMC

GBMC’s commitment to redesigning care has been visible with the capital campaign, The Promise Project. But throughout the hospital, additional departments and units are also being evaluated closely to ensure patient care is being delivered in the most convenient, compassionate, and comprehensive way possible.

The Wound Center at GBMC treats the entire spectrum of acute and chronic wounds in the adult population. As the highest volume center on the East Coast, 70 percent of patients are over the age of 60, 65 percent use a mobility aid, and many have co-morbidities. At its current location, on the fourth floor of the main hospital building, many patients struggle to get around and get to appointments on time.

Relocating this outpatient center to ground level, and reconfiguring and renovating the new center space with larger rooms and adjacent parking will result in better service, better outcomes, and greater patient comfort, convenience, and satisfaction.

The new center is expected to be complete in fall 2023, and will offer the same exceptional care patients have come to expect from the team. Just like with The Promise Project, the renovated center will enhance the great care already going on inside.

“Dr. Heller, along with her highly trained staff, treat me with dignity, compassion, and love. The nurses are exceptional and detail oriented. Not wanting to harm or cause additional distress, the nurses carefully address each of my wounds,” Jo Marie Gafos, patient and former Gilchrist volunteer, said.

The Wound Center at GBMC takes a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach to wound care. Patients have access to experts in vascular surgery, podiatry, infectious disease, and plastic surgery, as well as a highly experienced nursing team.

The center utilizes the newest clinical tools in wound healing along with traditional clinical practices, focusing on the whole body throughout the healing process, which includes nutritional assessment and counseling, diabetic education, pain management, and patient and caregiver counseling.

Jennifer Heller, MD, RPVI, FACS, Medical Director of the Wound Center, who has been recognized 11 times by Baltimore magazine in its annual Top Docs issue, said, “The Wound Center at GBMC is committed to providing state-of-the-art wound care tailored to each patient. We remained open during the pandemic to care for the many outpatients requiring complex treatment for their chronic wounds because it is our daily objective to care for each and every patient as if they were a member of our own family, and we do that really well.”