SAWC “Gives Back” Program Awards New Wound Care Scholarships

  A group of clinicians was recently recognized for excellence in wound care at SAWC Fall 2012 in Baltimore, MD. Officials with the North American Center for Continuing Medical Education LLC (NACCME), the continuing education sponsor for the Symposium on Advanced Wound Care (SAWC), and HMP Communications LLC, SAWC co-host, announced the newest scholarship recipients for their SAWC “Gives Back” program. Four wound care providers were honored during a private ceremony at the convention Sept. 13. Each winner earned free registration to SAWC and was selected by several prominent wound care societies and associations, including the American College of Wound Healing and Tissue Repair (ACWHTR), the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care (AAWC), the American Podiatric Medical Association (APMA), and the American Physical Therapy Association’s (APTA) Clinical Electrophysiology and Wound Management (CEWM) section. The 2012 SAWC Fall scholarship winners are:   Wound Healing Fellow Scholarship - Igor Altman, DO, MBA, presented by William Ennis, DO, MBA, FACOS, president of ACWHTR; Wound Care Nurse Scholarship – Mary Haddow, RN-BC, CWCN, presented by Terry Treadwell, MD, FACS, past-president of AAWC (on behalf of Robert J. Snyder, DPM, CWS, AAWC president); Wound Care Podiatrist Scholarship – Sahani Howie, DPM, presented by Matthew Garoufalis, DPM, president-elect of APMA; and Wound Care Therapist Scholarship – Harriett Loehne, PT, DPT, CWS, FACCWS, presented by Pam Scarborough, PT, editorial board member of Today’s Wound Clinic, PT, DPT, CWS (on behalf of Rose Hamm, president of APTA’s CEWM section).   “Wound care is predominately a multidisciplinary focused practice,” said Howie. “This multidisciplinary approach to wound care is a theme further supported through the SAWC scholarship awards program. I feel that it acknowledges the importance of a team approach to addressing the complicated wounds that we all deal with on a regular basis.”   With optimal outcomes best provided by an interdisciplinary care team that often includes physicians, podiatrists, therapists, and nurses, the SAWC Spring & Fall scholarships not only honor these clinical specialties but also wound care fellows and researchers.    “The SAWC scholarship program was launched in April of 2012 as a way to thank the many clinical specialists and their societies/associations who advocate for optimal care and treatments for patients with wounds,” said Jeremy Bowden, vice president/group publisher of the wound care division at HMP Communications, which produces numerous publications, including Today’s Wound Clinic. “The SAWC Spring and Fall conferences are the largest combined wound care meetings in the United States, and we wanted to begin a biannual tradition to honor special recipients selected by prominent wound care groups with the various SAWC scholarships.”   The next group of scholarship winners will be celebrated May 1–5 in Denver, CO, at SAWC Spring 2013.