June doesn’t just welcome in the summer heat- it also marks Wound Healing Awareness Month (WHAM), a time for healthcare professionals to pause and recognize those living with wounds, whether acute or chronic. At Wound Care Advantage (WCA), we want to shine a particular light on patients living with non-healing wounds.
Traditionally, non-healing wound patients are thought of as older adults with multiple comorbidities. And while that’s often the case, it's far from the full picture. Some of our wound care patients are still lacing up their work boots at dawn or clocking into their 9-to-5 jobs, living with wounds while trying to keep up with the demands of everyday life.
With over two decades in wound care, WCA has access to a significant depth of data, which allows us to look beyond assumptions and focus on real trends. One data point caught us off guard: healing rates among different age groups. You’d expect older patients to heal more slowly—and often, they do. But over the past five years, our data tells a different story. The slowest healing patients aren’t the oldest. They’re between the ages of 40 and 60, still several years shy of the national retirement age of 62.
So why does this matter, especially during Wound Healing Awareness Month?
Because these patients are often in the thick of their careers, juggling demanding jobs and daily responsibilities. Weekly wound care visits might be difficult to manage. Strict care plans, like keeping dressings dry or adhering to offloading protocols, may not be feasible when someone’s wearing steel-toed boots all day or spending hours on their feet.
Whenever I look at this data, two patient stories come to mind.
The first dates back to when I was just starting out in wound care. It was about a man working for his city’s sanitation department. He spent long nights on his feet, in all kinds of weather. Even after developing a wound, he couldn’t afford to take time off- and his wound kept getting macerated night after night.
The second story is strikingly similar. A construction worker, whose job required him to wear steel-toed boots, far from ideal when trying to offload pressure from a foot wound. And yet, like the first patient, he kept showing up. He kept working.
Thankfully, both men were supported by care teams who understood the realities of their lives and helped them navigate healing without asking them to sacrifice their livelihoods.
It’s stories like these, and data like ours, that remind us of the importance of meeting patients where they are.
This Wound Healing Awareness Month, I encourage all clinicians to take a moment to ask more than just clinical questions. If your patient is still working, ask about their commute, not just from home to work, but from work or home to the wound center. Ask how their job impacts their ability to follow care plans. And if the time of their appointments work for them. These conversations matter.
Where can we, as care teams, adjust our approach to support healing for the working wounded?
At WCA, putting patients first isn’t just a value, it guides our every decision as a company. And this month, we remain committed to not just raising awareness, but also improving outcomes for every patient, regardless of age, occupation, or circumstance.
About Wound Care Advantage
WCA helps wound centers run better—clinically and financially. Our platform, Luvo, delivers real-time business intelligence, compliance tools, and daily operational support, all in one place. Built for speed, clarity, and results. We give your team the expertise needed to be successful in wound care—without giving up control. Learn more at www.thewca.com.
