Broadlawns limb-loss prevention program should target diabetic veterans
Posted on July 26, 2007 in Around the metro, Health Care by DM
Broadlawns Medical Center announced yesterday that it is opening an Amputation Prevention Center to reduce the number of lower limb amputations in the Greater Des Moines area and throughout the state of Iowa. Lee C. Rogers, D.P.M., a leading expert in surgical limb salvage, will head the new specialty center.The Center will offer both inpatient and outpatient services and will focus on medical and surgical services to help prevent limb loss. The Center will also offer consultations to determine the future risk of limb loss in those without current acute problems such as Diabetes and to put at-risk patients on a path of treatment and lifestyle to avoid developing acute problems. The Center is now accepting new patients.
“…(M)ore than 60 percent of non-traumatic amputations occur in people with diabetes. This Center will focus on helping Iowans keep their limbs through specialized diagnostics and surgery for those with limb-threatening conditions such as chronic wounds, gangrene and infections,” Dr. Rogers noted in a Broadlawns news release.
Broadlawns needs to reach out to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Des Moines and partner in extending these services to veterans. Diabetes has been determined to be a service-connected illness for U.S. veterans who served in-country during the Viet Nam era, because of exposure to Agent Orange. Although the promise of “free medical care for life” made to these veterans when they enlisted has been eroded over time, it seems to me that prevention programs are the type of thing that could be offered free to those who have contracted a related illness that has already been determined to be service-connected.
subscribe to my RSS feed!
Comments
3 comments to “Broadlawns limb-loss prevention program should target diabetic veterans”
Leave a Comment
-
Get Updates!
-- OR --
-
I have worked with many Broadlawns management and physicians. They are doing some wonderful things and are truely an asset to our community.
Art, I wish our family had had as positive an experience with the V-A. Over there, it’s been a steady stream of conflicting information, crabby staff, and diabetes doctors who don’t even *check* lower limbs for signs of trouble. That’s why my take on this Broadlawns program had to do with services for Veterans - the V-A will never have the resources to provide anything similar themselves. ~ J.
[...] on a path of treatment and lifestyle to avoid developing acute … article continues at DM brought to you by diabetes.medtrials.info and [...]