Mt. Vernon resident Bill Newman receives treatment at Methodist

It had been a great day of fun in the sun,” Bill Newman, 67, a retired banker from Mt. Vernon, IN, said as he recalled the boating accident that threw him into the waters off Key West, Florida. “The boat started to hydroplane,” he continued. “We think it may have hit a sandbar. When I came to the surface, I knew I was cut, but didn’t know how serious it was.”

After receiving multiple stitches in his shin, on the back of his calf, and being treated for a puncture wound in the back of his leg at an urgent care center, he later needed a blood transfusion at a hospital. “Fortunately, our son lives in Florida so my wife and I went back to his home for about 10 days of recovery.”

Once he was able to return home, he visited his primary care physician who referred him to Methodist Health’s Advanced Wound Healing Center a few weeks later. “I was starting to heal but I couldn’t straighten my leg and was walking with a limp. My doctor thought they could help me, and they did!” Newman said.

Topher Edmondson, RN, WCC, Clinical Manager, Advanced Wound Healing Center, recalled, “His wound was a head scratcher. We did an ultrasound and x-rays to assess his situation. In theory, it should’ve been healing more quickly. We had to think outside the box.”

Newman began coming in two to three times a week to have his wound packed with AQUACEL^®, a special type of anti-microbial wound dressing that helps the wound to heal from the inside out. “At one point, there was a lot of drainage and fluid that came out,” he said, “and it really started healing after that.” He also began seeing a physical therapist, who helped him with exercises to be able to straighten his leg. He was released after nearly three months of treatment.

“Today, I have some scarring and my knee is stiffer, but I can do anything I want,” Newman said. “Doctors Sewell and Maddox and the three nurses I had the most contact with — Topher, Abbey and Shannon — were so warm and caring. I would recommend the Advanced Wound Healing Center to anyone.”

The Advanced Wound Healing Center at Methodist Health is a member of the Healogics network of nearly 800 Centers and was recognized nationally with the Center of Distinction award for clinical excellence in 2016. In addition to hyperbaric therapy, treatments offered include negative pressure wound therapy, debridement, application of cellular-based tissue or skin substitutes to the wound and offloading or total contact casts.

For more information, call the Advanced Wound Healing Center at 270-631-2399 or visit www.methodisthospital.net/woundcare.

Photo Caption: Bill Newman, right, poses with Topher Edmondson, RN, WCC, Clinical Manager, inside the Advanced Wound Healing Center at Methodist Health.