Photo by Howard Owens.
Akron resident Leonard Woltz, Jr. was likely just days from death in October when he encountered the UMMC wound care treatment team.
Now, he is nearly healed, and Dr. Joseph Canzoneri expressed confidence that he will walk again.
Woltz had a necrotizing fasciitis infection in his foot. The infection is caused by a rare, flesh-eating bacteria.
"It just absolutely blew up over a matter of three or four days," Woltz said. "And that's it. I got a football on the end of my foot, and then that one day we came in, and I got right in, and you know, they started treatments and everything in the hospital. But the care here, and the folks here are just they are -- it's absolutely incredible."
On Tuesday, Woltz attended a ceremony honoring the Wound Care Center for its eight consecutive years of being honored by Healogics, the nation’s largest provider of advanced wound care services. This year, the clinic received the President’s Circle Award along with the Center of Distinction and Robert A. Warriner III Clinical Excellence awards for 2023.
The trio of awards was dubbed the hat-trick, after the sports metaphor that originated in England among cricket players.
The awards recognize the center's quality care, consistent compassion for patients, and expertise. The center, according to a Healogics representative, had an 86 percent heal rate in 2023 and a patient satisfaction rate of 94 percent.
Healolgics works with more than 600 hospitals nationwide and only 34 are receiving the 2023 Presidents Award, and only two in New York.
"These awards are achievements well deserved, well acknowledged," said Toni McCutcheon, director of operations for Healogics. "It really comes from the people-first patient-centered processes they have here. They're healing patients, they're taking care of their patients, they love their patients. If it wasn't for that, this wouldn't happen. So it's always about the patient and will always be about the patient."
That's precisely how Woltz feels about the center.
"From the time you walk through the door and you talk to Mary Beth, you know you're amongst friends and people who care about you," Woltz said.
Canzoneri said Woltz presented one of the most challenging cases the clinic has faced.
"This is one of the worst types of infection," Canzoneri said. "It travels up the foot and very quickly results in sepsis and can often result in death and high incidence of leg amputation."
Woltz was admitted on a regime of IV antibiotics and drainage of the wound.
"We then took him back to the operating room for limb salvage procedures to preserve as much of this foot as possible to avoid below-knee amputation," Canzoneri said. "It is crucial to prevent below-knee amputations because it results in high mortality rates within three to five years. And almost 80 percent of patients who sustain a below-knee amputation never walk again and are confined to wheelchairs or assisted living."
The infection was contained with a mid-foot amputation and aggressive treatment, including use of the center's hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
At the gathering, Canzoneri pronounced Woltz "almost healed" and that he would almost certainly be totally healed within weeks.
Woltz said he's gone from the psychological trauma in October of wondering what his future would be like, and if he even would have a future, to looking forward to resuming most of his prior activities.
"Now we're down to this part here where this thing is closing so rapidly now because of all the stuff we've done before and the brilliant move that Dr. Joe made with my foot," Woltz said. "It's all coming down to 'Wow, I'm going to be okay.' I'm gonna be able to do 97 percent of the things I used to do. You know, I'm not gonna be running marathons anytime soon, but yeah, it's all right."
Photo by Howard Owens
Photo by Howard Owens
Photo by Howard Owens.
