#EndAmputation & #SaveThe4 Selfie Social Media Campaign
About the Campaign
Four out of five lower limb amputations related to diabetic foot complications can be prevented. Wounds Canada is using November 14th, 2020, World Diabetes Day, to increase awareness about the problem of unnecessary diabetes-related foot amputations and provide resources and solutions. We’re trying to “end the four” of five amputations that wouldn’t happen if more people knew how to prevent them.
Wounds Canada has put together a strategy for a national social media campaign to #EndDiabetes and #PreventAmputations. By working together on this campaign, we can increase the impact of our message and help patients at risk of diabetic foot ulcers and amputations. Because the campaign is based on social media channels, it will have wide distribution at no cost to participants.
How it Works
This fully bilingual campaign consists of a series of co-ordinated tweets and Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn posts, beginning in late October. The high point will be on November 14, World Diabetes Day, with a blitz on tweets and retweets, personal challenges and live events. The campaign will continue, at lower intensity, until the end of November.
The campaign is aimed at everyone (patients, families, health-care professionals, government and policy decision makers, media personnel) and is designed to elevate the topic of skin and wound care in general and preventing diabetic foot-related amputations in particular.
Participant commitment: You can opt in and out of the campaign at any time, engage in all or parts of the program as you see fit and customize tweets and posts to suit your organization’s needs.
Hashtags we’ll be using
#SaveThe4
#EndAmputations
#EndDiabetes
How to Participate
Download the activation kit and the schedule of pre-made posts that are ready to be shared and distribute them on your organization's social media channels.
Take a four-finger selfie (see below) to represent the four limbs that could be saved with increased awareness of diabetic foot complications. Post your selfie using the hashtags below, and encourage friends and colleagues to do the same!
Download the printable campaign sign to hold in your selfie.
Activation Kit: English
Activation Kit: French
Social Media: English
Social Media: French
Save the 4 Infographic: English
Save the 4 Inforgraphic: French
Care Pathway
Wounds Canada Care Pathways
Wounds Canada has developed care pathways that utilize a risk-based approach centred on patient outcomes, experiences and value-based care, aligning with population health principles. They are systems-oriented, crossing all sectors, and extend from risk screening and prevention to early intervention, treatment, referral, follow-up and self-management. This holistic, systems-based approach promotes the prevention of wounds and their complications, such as infections, non-healing, amputations, disability and death.
The pathways demonstrate the importance of system and sector integration when addressing skin health and providing wound care to maximize provider impact, patient outcomes and cost savings, contributing to both skin health and general, population-level health. In addition, they showcase the critical interface between practice and organizational policy, leading to optimal system performance in preventing the development of wounds and/or their reoccurrence and supporting healing when they do occur.
Pathway Structure
The pathways consist of three or four domains, each organized to identify an individual's specific risk level and recommend an appropriate care plan with a holistic approach, including follow-up requirements:
- Green Domain: Interventions for patients at no or very low risk.
- Yellow Domain: Interventions for patients at low risk.
- Red Domain: Interventions for patients experiencing an acute wound-related episode.
- Orange Domain: Interventions for patients in a post-acute episode stage, such as those living with a healed wound at risk for recurrence.
- Purple Domain: Interventions for patients where wound healing is not the goal due to co-existing conditions and/or patient choice.
These pathways, based on international best practice standards, are adaptable to the needs and resources of any health jurisdiction, provided the core principles are maintained.
Care Pathway Series
Pathway for Preventing and Managing Diabetic Foot Complications
In 2019, the Diabetic Foot Canada Task Force, a group of stakeholders from across Canada, was formed to address the lack of awareness, knowledge and funding related to diabetic foot care. The Task Force developed a pathway for managing diabetic foot complications, highlighting essential care aspects in an understandable format for all Canadians, regardless of their health-care background.
Download the Pathway:
4-page Pathway for Preventing and Managing Diabetic Foot Complications (English)
1-page Foot Health Pathway for People Living with Diabetes (English)
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You can read more about the development of the Pathway here.
Pathway for Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries
In 2025, the authors of the chapter on pressure injuries in Skin Health and Wound Management: Best Practice Recommendations 2025 collaborated with Wounds Canada to produce the Pathway for Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries. The pathway highlights the importance of risk screening for every individual under care, followed by timely interventions and follow-up reassessment to prevent the development of pressure injuries and to support healing and prevention of reoccurrence if they do occur.
Download the Pathway:
1-page Pathway for Preventing and Managing Pressure Injuries
Pathway for Preventing and Managing Vascular Wounds
In 2020, Ontario Health-CorHealth, Ontario’s Lower-Limb Preservation Advisory Committee, collaborated with Wounds Canada to develop a practical, system-level Pathway for Preventing and Managing Vascular Wounds. This pathway highlights key care activities for vascular wound prevention and management, emphasizing regular screening, early identification, timely assessment and best-practice treatment.
Download the Pathway:
1-page Pathway for Preventing and Managing Vascular Wounds
