Melben

Need a bit of help. I have been looking after a wound on a foot for about 4 months. The wound is about 12 months old. It was a pressure sore. The patient is in a wheel chair, has MS and possibly diabetes. She is a large lady. She is in a wheel chair for about 12 hours per day, with legs down on the foot plates. The wound is not really getting better. When I first started looking after it. It was being dressed twice per week with a product called Iodasorb, jelonet pad and crepe bandage. I'm in australia so don't know if these products are familiar to most. The wound can be odourous and had a fair bit of discharge. About 2 weeks ago I decided to change the dressing to kaltostat (alginate). The odour has improved, and the discharge has improved. Does anyone have any suggestions for me. I am not a wound specialist by any means. But I have inherrited this patient and I would love to see the wound heal.

My advice is to be open and honest. The kids are really curious. It is best if they get acurate information from a reliable source. My feeling is the better their understanding of how both the female and male body/ minds mature, the more likely they will make better decisions about their health. During puberty sessions I have used body out lines and asked the class to draw both physical and emotional changes on the body that occur during puberty. I let them have a free reign. Then as a class we can discuss the changes and why they occur. Some other things that are important during puberty as well are: Relationships safe sex messages feelings and emotions ( good and bad and the physial effects they have on the body) Goals STIs I hope this helps.

We do a program about puberty, which includes the reasons behind the body odour and the need for special attention to personal hygeine when signs of puberty start. The program is a fun way to deal issues related to puberty. Often the class teachers are relieved that the topic is discussed by someone else. We were also fortunate enough to have an organisation supply toiletries for the classes so we could demonstrate the use of things like deodorants, shampoos etc. It can be a worrying issue but it can be dealt with in a sensitive and informative way without being embarrassing to anyone.