health & wellness
Ir
Blue Light Blues from page 53
Experience The
St. Joe Center Offers Help and
Hope for People with Chronic Wounds
By Jack Weiner,
President and CEO
St. Joseph Mercy
Oakland
Since its opening in 2012, St. Joseph Mercy
Oakland's (SJMO) Center for Wound Care and
Hyperbaric Medicine has improved the quality
of life for hundreds of patients with non-
healing wounds.
And it has added more services and products
to encourage healing, such as artificial skin substitutes and total contact casting for diabetic
foot ulcers.
Located in the Alice Gustafson Center on campus, the state-of-the-
art facility treats patients with chronic wounds using advanced equipment,
including two hyperbaric chambers, making St. Joe's wound care center one of
the most convenient, comprehensive and sophisticated wound treatment facilities in
Southeastern Michigan.
We opened the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine to provide our patients
with the safest, highest quality and comprehensive care possible in the area of wound
treatment. With state-of-the-art, specialized, technologically advanced and evidence-
based therapies utilizing the latest techniques and procedures, SJMO can restore a
patient's quality of life by reducing healing time and fostering full recovery
Firas Karmo,
MD
We are privileged to have Firas Karmo,
MD, plastic surgeon from the SJMO Medical
Staff, as medical director of the facility, which
employs physicians specialty-trained in wound
management and hyperbaric medicine, certified
or specialty-trained wound care nurses and highly
trained clinical hyperbaric managers and staff.
The center takes a whole body approach to wound healing, including
• Nutritional assessment and counseling
• Diabetic education
• Patient and caregiver counseling
• Referrals for special needs pressure relief, including beds, seat cushions and footwear.
Among the conditions treated at the center are:
• Diabetic wounds
• Any non-healing wound
• Surgical wounds that have opened
• Skin grafts or surgical flaps that are not healing post-surgery
• Open wounds caused by radiation therapy
• Bond infections
• Pressure ulcers
• Venous wounds
• Internal injuries where no open wound exists, such as select acute traumatic and crush
injuries, radiation cystitis or proctitis and reconstruction of the jaw or bone.
The hyperbaric chambers provide a more advanced treatment option for those who
qualify. Hyperbaric treatments work in combination with traditional wound care treatments.
Oftentimes, the hyperbaric treatment is the only one available for a particular condition.
Please ask your physician for a referral if your condition can benefit from our Center for
Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine.
DiscoverRemarkable
ADVERTISMENT
1973860
54 August 27 • 2015
our circadian clock because it alerts the
brain to thinking its daylight, throwing
the circadian rhythm out of whack, and
sleep suffers because the release of mela-
tonin is delayed"
Researchers at Harvard Medical
School recently reported that using
light-emitting electronic devices for
reading, social communication and
entertainment before bed results in
a person needing more time to fall
asleep and being less alert the following
morning. The study also showed that
those reading printed books showed no
reduction in sleep or alertness the next
morning. These results are particularly
important to parents because using
technology before bedtime is highly
characteristic of children and young
adults.
A child's circadian rhythm changes
when she becomes a teen. Instead
of getting to sleep at 8 or 9 p.m., the
rhythm shifts a couple hours later to 10
and 11 p.m. The study points out that
the results are particularly important to
parents because using technology before
bedtime is pretty normal for this age
group.
"This is called delayed sleep phase
syndrome Trock explains. "Turning on
a TV show or video game or opening up
Facebook just before bedtime tends to
drive off sleepiness even later because
the blue light emanating from these
devices fools the brain into thinking its
daylight. This is one of the reasons why
Tips For Better Sleep
• Use your bedroom for sleeping. Do
homework, text messaging or read-
ing an online newspaper in another
room.
• Avoid caffeine and nicotine a few
hours before bed.
• Avoid alcohol before bed. It may
help you get to sleep faster, but the
sleep will be fragmented.
• Avoid exercising and eating a
heavy meal an hour or two before
bed.
• Set a schedule to go to bed
each night and get up each morn-
ing. Encourage your teen to keep
weekday and weekend bedtimes
and wake times within two hours of
I tell parents to have their kids do their
homework first thing in the evening"
Research has recognized for some
time that there is an association between
lack of sleep and poor grades for teens.
As a result, some school districts across
the country have switched from a 7:15
start time to an 8:40 start time, result-
ing in improved grades for students and
fewer emotional problems.
"Interestingly, blue light is also being
used as a therapeutic tool for those with
ASPD (advanced sleep phase disorder);
Trock says. "This is a sleep disorder
more common in older adults. A person
with ASPD goes to bed early, falls asleep
quickly, sleeps well for a few hours, and
then wakes up very early, finding it diffi-
cult to go back to sleep. Treatment to get
the body clock back to a more normal
timing is getting blue light stimulation
in the evening to trick the brain into
thinking it's still daytime and taking
melatonin."
Individuals vary greatly in their need
for sleep. The National Institutes of
Health (NIH) suggests that most adults
need about 7-9 hours each night. Infants
sleep 16-18 hours a day and preschool
children sleep between 10-12 hours a
day. Teens also require at least 9 hours
a night. The problem is that many of
us don't realize that sleep cycles change
with age. Older people are more likely to
wake up from sleep, but there is no evi-
dence that says they need less sleep than
younger adults.
❑
each other.
• Relax before bed: Take a warm
bath, read a book or other restful
activities.
• Don't lie awake in bed. If you can't
sleep, go into another room and do
something relaxing until you feel
tired, such as watching TV, read-
ing a book or listening to music.
The anxiety of being unable to fall
asleep can contribute to insomnia.
• Avoid naps, especially in the
afternoon.
• Do your best to remove sudden,
loud noises that can disrupt your
sleep.
Sources: National Sleep
Foundation and Dr. Gary Trock.