[KHTS] – The healthcare team at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital’s Wound Care Center is celebrating 12 years of caring for patients in the Santa Clarita Valley.

First established at Henry Mayo in 2003, the center is comprised of 11 staff members that provide treatment for acute or chronic wounds that resist healing on their own.

“Wounds that just don’t get better can cause other health risks, and that could result in threatening infections or possible amputations,” said Ayda Rezaimalek, the center’s program manager. “But because we do exist and we do specialize in it, we try to save a leg or save a patient before getting an amputation or any of those other complications that may occur.”

Center staff see a wide variety of wounds that can be as small as a bite or burn, or as advanced as a pressure ulcer or a diabetic vascular wound.

The center’s four doctors each have a different specialty– including family practice, emergency medicine, surgical podiatry and standard podiatry –and see more than 250 wound visits from approximately 50 patients per month.

“Because we’ve tremendously grown since 2003, the hospital has decided to advance treatment as well,” Rezaimalek said.

By the end of next year, the center plans to offer an advanced form of wound care treatment called hyperbaric oxygen therapy, which enhances the body’s natural healing process through the inhalation of 100 percent oxygen under controlled circumstances.

“That’s just a huge advancement as far as wound care treatment goes,” Rezaimalek said.

Rezaimalek described the center as the “hidden gem” of the hospital and praised center staff for “constantly, consistently (putting) in a great effort to improve their patients’ quality of life.”

“Overall,” she added, “we work together with the hospital to improve our patients’ lives every day by giving that quality of life through healing.”

Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital is a 238-bed, not-for-profit community hospital and trauma center in Santa Clarita. The Henry Mayo Hospital emergency department is open 24-7 to provide critical life-saving services, with a panel of physicians available around the clock for critical healthcare needs. In addition, a number of specialized care services are also available, including a maternity department, community hospital cancer program, advanced primary stroke center, spine and joint program, acute rehab unit, cardiology services, outpatient wound care, physical and occupational therapies and a wide range of surgical services.