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BRYAN WOUND CARE Grateful patients praise teamwork
Grateful patients praise teamwork
It’s no surprise that poorly healing wounds can drastically reduce one’s quality of life. Just ask Michael Roselius or Gene Bruder of Lincoln, who recovered from severe, slowly healing wounds with the help of doctors and staff at Bryan’s wound clinic.
The wound clinic has expanded its services on Bryan East Campus. Several local surgeons worked to establish the clinic over the past two decades, and podiatrist Jeffrey Wienke, DPM, CWS-P, of Capital Foot and Ankle joined the team six years ago with the goal of becoming part of the multidisciplinary wound center. Bryan Heart vascular surgeons Sarah Ongstad, MD, and Sara Hargreaves, MD, also recently joined the team, which includes wound, ostomy and continence nurse Amanda Paprocki, wound treatment associates Alli Selig and Patti Holloway, and the staff of Bryan’s Specialty Clinic.
“Drs. Ongstad, Hargreaves and Wienke are averaging about 160 patient visits a month at the clinic,” says Specialty Clinic manager Sharon Hagelgantz, RN. “We care for patients who have chronic wounds from many causes. Some have wounds related to diabetes, but we also treat slow-to-heal bedsores, infected wounds, those involving exposed bone or tendon, and wounds caused by blood flow insufficiencies, trauma
Anne Krause, RN, and Jeffrey Wienke, DPM, meet with Michael Roselius — who credits the staff with “saving my foot and going above and beyond to help it heal.”
This story is brought to you by Davis Design.
— Michael Roselius
and other problems.”
The team offers sophisticated wound healing technologies, including skin grafting, ultrasonic mist therapy, negative pressure dressings, and specialized dressings and casts.
“Our multidisciplinary approach gets at problems underlying chronic wounds,” says Dr. Wienke. “For example, relieving pressure is essential to healing diabetic foot ulcers. We have many ways to do that, from total contact bandage casts to leading-edge surgical procedures. After patients heal, we can arrange custom shoe-fittings to reduce their risk for repeat problems.”
Dr. Ongstad and Dr. Hargreaves provide the first line of attack when poor wound healing is due to blood flow problems.
“Wounds develop or worsen when artery blockages keep tissues from getting the blood flow and oxygen they need,” Dr. Ongstad explains. “And, if veins aren’t functioning well, blood can pool in the extremities, causing swelling, heaviness,
pain and ultimately, tissue breakdown.”
“For patients who have blocked arteries, we use tools such as stents and natural or synthetic bypasses to reopen or go around blocked vessels, improving blood flow to the wound,” says Dr. Hargreaves.
“We also surgically close unhealthy veins so blood is sent into healthier vessels, reducing swelling and pain in the extremities. When blood flows well to and from the wound, healing improves.” blood flow problems and diabetes.
Michael, a Lincoln business analyst, believed his diabetes was under control. But one morning in March 2020 he noticed a dry piece of skin under his left small toe that peeled back, revealing, to his shock, an area of hard, black tissue.
He immediately went to the Emergency Department at Bryan East Campus, where doctors found a serious infection in his foot had spread throughout his body, causing a life-threatening bloodstream infection.
“My full recovery took four months — first there was hospitalization with intravenous antibiotics for the bloodstream infection, then surgery to remove the dead tissue and bone in my toe,” Michael remembers. “At first, my doctors thought they might need to amputate my toe, but to my great relief they saved it. The next step was surgery by Dr. Ongstad to get better circulation to my foot, because poor blood flow caused the tissue under my toe to die in the first place.
Bryan Heart vascular surgeons Sara Hargreaves, MD, left, and Sarah Ongstad, MD, are helping make a difference in outcomes for patients in the Bryan Specialty Clinic’s wound clinic.
Patients share their stories
Michael Roselius, 54, and Gene Bruder, 73, both had severely infected leg wounds related to
“The final step in my treatment was
— Jeffrey Wienke, DPM
— Sarah Ongstad, MD
wound care at home with weekly visits to the wound clinic. There, Dr. Wienke checked the progress of my wound healing and fitted me each week with a new total contact bandage cast and a walking boot that took pressure off the healing part of my foot.
“When my wound finally healed, Dr. Wienke referred me for custom-made shoe orthotics to prevent further problems.” As another important part of prevention Michael learned to do extremely careful foot care, including checking for sore spots and other signs of trouble.
Michael says, “I appreciate the doctors and all the staff at the wound clinic and especially want to thank the nurses there. As you’d expect, they’re experts in the new dressing and wound care technologies. But they also were really supportive and, when need be, they were tough on me to do my part. I feel like, first, my doctors and Bryan saved my life by curing that blood infection. Then, they saved my foot from amputation by going above and beyond to help it heal.”
Restoring blood flow — and life
Gene’s story is equally dramatic. This retired dentist now enjoys building model ships and cars, and with his wife, Diann, deals in rare coins from around the world.
“Before my wound happened,” he says, “we went to dozens of coin conventions every year, so we had a fun, busy life with lots of travel. Everything changed in February 2019 though, when I hurt my left ankle when I slipped on the winter ice.”
His leg injury seemed at first to be healing, but then became a painful, infected open wound. When the infection did not improve with routine care and antibiotics, he consulted several wound care specialists, including at a regional Retired dentist Gene Bruder enjoys making models of ships, planes and cars — the hobby helped him develop dexterity needed in his former career. This patient says, thanks to the wound clinic team, “My wife and I have our life back. I can walk again, so we’re looking forward to travel and exercise.”
medical center in another state.
“Unfortunately, none of their treatments helped much. The wound was still quite large and so painful that sleeping in bed was impossible — I couldn’t elevate my leg at all, so the best I could do was sit upright in a chair, which I did for 15 long months. We were just struggling day to day, waiting for my leg to heal.”
Early in 2020, Gene consulted Dr. Hargreaves, who found his healing difficulty was due in part to poor blood flow through veins in his leg.
She performed surgery to divert blood from damaged veins into healthy vessels in his leg; this reduced swelling and brought healthy blood to his wound.
With better blood flow, Gene’s wound began to heal. Dr. Hargreaves used additional healing techniques during his follow-up visits at the wound clinic, including total contact bandage casts and the MIST Therapy system, which delivers an ultrasonic saline mist to clean wounds and promote healing. Around that time, Gene learned he was diabetic and that this was likely slowing his healing, as well.
“Over several months I lost 40 pounds. My weight loss definitely stabilized my diabetes, which helped my wound heal,” he points out.
Now, after Gene’s surgery and followup care with Dr. Hargreaves and the clinic team, his wound is 95 percent healed.
“When I had that big unhealed wound I had to take medical supplies with me everywhere so we couldn’t travel, plus I needed pain medication that made me sleepy much of the time,” Gene says.
“Diann and I finally have our life back — I can walk again so we can do things we want to do, and we’re looking forward to travel and exercise.
“Dr. Hargreaves and all the wound clinic staff have been incredibly supportive, and we’re so grateful.” n
For information about Bryan’s wound clinic, contact Sharon Hagelgantz, RN, at 402-481-8688.
Dr. Sara Hargreaves discusses Gene’s progress during a follow-up visit to the wound clinic at Bryan East Campus.
To learn how you can support the work of Bryan Health, please contact the Bryan Foundation staff at 402-481-8605.
