Health and Fitness : Wound care clinic now offered at Virginia Gay Hospital

Brandi Bresson and Melissa Sivola

Wound care usually requires multiple visits and those visits can happen over a weeks or months. Now patients of Virginia Gay can get the wound care they need without making a trip after trip to Cedar Rapids or Waterloo for treatment.

“In addition to eliminating travel, another advantage we offer patients,” says Brandi Bresson, one of Virginia Gay’s board certified wound care nurses, “ is closer coordination of the patient’s care with their primary care provider and other professionals.” Brandi recently completed her coursework and certification with another Virginia Gay nurse, Melissa Sivola.

Melissa shared that in addition to the patient’s primary care provider, the two wound care nurses also work closely with Virginia Gay’s therapy services department. “Lymphodema is a common condition for many patients with wound issues. Often the lymphatic system breaks down and isn’t draining fluid the way it should. When the lymph system isn’t working properly the rate of healing can be slowed, so Stacey Hodges, who is a certified lymphedemeologist, works with the patients to speed up the healing process.”

In addition to lymphatic treatments involving a very light touch, Stacey also uses a lymphatic pump to further improve lymph function. “If you don’t have a lymphatic system moving the fluid, or if a clogged system is preventing blood flow due to swelling, you’re just not going to get the healing you want to see,” said Stacey.

Both Brandi and Melissa look forward to expanding wound care at Virginia Gay. “Coordinating the patient’s care across all the medical practices is something I know we do exceptionally well at Virginia Gay and I think it's one of the skills that causes our patient satisfaction quality measures to be so high,” says Brandi. “Being able to do that for patients needing wound care will be one more way to make the patient’s experience better and healing occur more quickly.”

The two also shared how they recently involved Virginia Gay general surgeon Dr. Gene Lariviere in caring for a wound patient. The wound needed more extensive debridement than they could provide, but rather than scheduling another appointment for the patient Dr. Lariviere was able to offer his expertise during the same visit.

“I’m always amazed when a patient’s provider walks into a room and immediately, without looking at a chart, can recall what the patient is dealing with, what other factors are involved….sometimes even their family history,” Melissa adds. “Now we can bring that level of care for more patients in a way that also saves them time and money spent in travel.”

Asked why the two were interested in wound care, Melissa answered for both by saying that it’s one of the few areas in medicine where you can actually see the healing process occur. “Watching a body mend itself back together is an amazing thing to watch and help along.”