Mednarodna konferenca - Vivamel 2019

Tosama's international conference on Vivamel

Successful cases increase its value

As part of the celebration marking the tenth anniversary of the development of modern wounds dressing Vivamel, Tosama organised traditional international conference devoted to modern wound care with medical chestnut honey. From 20 to 22 May, fifty doctors and nurses from Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia gathered in the Slovene Ethnographic Museum. The lecturers presented examples of good practices in the use of Vivamel in hospitalized patients, in outpatient care, and home care in different countries.

Two doctors from Viennese hospitals and a nurse from Lienz have shown that Vivamel treats very different wounds successfully – wounds after injuries and amputations, wounds after irradiation, and especially venous and diabetic ulcers. The information from the Lienz Regional Hospital is very positive and eloquent: since they started intensive work in modern wound care and have used Vivamel, the cost of wound care has been cut in half.

Traumatologist Aleš Fischinger from the University Medical Centre Ljubljana presented cases of severe damage to the limbs, where Vivamel contributed to faster healing. Dr Peter Zabret, as a member of the humanitarian expedition to Kenya, used Vivamel in emergencies, created by poor hygienic conditions, poor involvement of patients, and inaccessibility of health care.

The international conference has turned out to be an exceptional opportunity to share experiences. Knowledge and awareness of the effectiveness of medical chestnut honey for wound healing has also steadily increased in recent years due to such meetings. Today, Vivamel is most successfully marketed in Germany and Austria – besides Slovenia, of course. In most European countries, patients can get it on prescription. Since this is not the case in Slovenia, Tosama wishes that the medical community would more often recognize the benefits that the use of modern dressings brings to wound treatment.

Primož Božnar from Božnar Beekeeping presented beekeeping and honey production to the conference participants.

Dr Peter Grundtner, expert on modern wound management, has extensive experience with Vivamel.

Nataša Ivančič, key account manager, spoke about Tosama and our endeavours in the field of modern wound care.

After the official part of the congress, participants visited the exhibition Where Bees Are at Home at the Slovene Ethnographic Museum.