Limb preservation across the Metro East
Wound care built around keeping the limb.
When a diabetic foot ulcer, arterial wound, or non-healing lower-extremity wound stops improving, time matters. Metro East Health brings limb-preservation-oriented wound care to the bedside across the Illinois Metro East, and keeps the referring clinician, the family, and the care team working from the same plan.
Why it matters
The stakes are documented.
Published research puts five-year mortality after a diabetic foot ulcer at roughly 30 percent, on par with cancer overall, and above 50 percent after a major amputation (Armstrong et al., Journal of Foot and Ankle Research, 2020). Numbers like these are why a non-healing foot or leg wound is treated as urgent, structured care rather than watchful waiting.
Many limb-threatening wounds are lost not to a single event but to gaps: a missed follow-up after discharge, a dressing plan no one at home understands, a change in the wound that goes unreported for weeks. Bringing structured wound care to where the person already is, at home or in a facility, closes those gaps.
What the care includes
Structured surveillance, not watchful waiting.
Consistent assessment and measurement so a change is seen in days, not weeks. Debridement when clinically appropriate. Offloading and pressure awareness, because the best dressing loses to a wound that keeps bearing weight. Vascular vigilance with early escalation to podiatry, vascular, and surgical partners. And the diabetes picture managed by the same team, because glucose control decides healing. The wounds most likely to threaten a limb are diabetic foot ulcers, arterial and mixed wounds, and long-standing venous leg ulcers that have deteriorated.
For care teams
For physicians, podiatry, and vascular teams.
Metro East Health, through Gateway Wound Care, is the follow-up layer between your visits: documented wound status, escalation back to you when the wound changes, and a reliable answer to whether anyone is actually watching this wound. Send a referral or see physician referral information. Families do not need a referral to ask: request care or call 314-325-0126.
Next step
Talk with us about a limb-risk wound.
Reach out once. A real person will call you back and set the next step.