Rollie Green

Rollie is diabetic. A wound on the bottom of his foot just wasn’t healing – despite constant treatments at a metro hospital. After nearly a year with little progress, Rollie was frustrated. So he tried the new Wound Healing Center at Northfield Hospital. After two months, his wound was gone – and his favorite activities were back.

“It was just amazing how fast things started to improve,” Rollie says. “It's wonderful.”

Rollie’s care team, led by Jillian Simon, APRN, FNP-BC used a total-contact cast to take pressure off the wound so it could heal. They changed the cast each week, debriding (removing damaged tissue) and watching the wound closely to make sure it improved.

“Debridement is like weeding a garden: If you don’t get the bad tissue out of the wound, the good tissue doesn’t have a chance to survive and thrive,” Jillian explains. “Without the good tissue, the wound stays stuck in a chronic cycle of not improving. You have to really outsmart the wound.”

Rollie’s tailored care plan healed his wound sooner than projected, without complications. 

“Jillian would make predictions on when she’d have him out of the cast,” says Rollie’s partner Sherrie Thibodeau. “She said within three months. She was pretty right on.”

Detailed, computer-based measurements showed progress in the depth and width of the wound. (Their metro hospital took measurements by hand . . . less consistent and accurate, Sherrie says.

The Wound Healing Center “gave us pictures and showed us progress. The pictures were so clear,” Sherrie says. “Every few weeks they’d give us a printout. It was wonderful. We showed it to everyone, we were so thrilled. We really bragged it up, because we were so impressed.”

When Rollie was close to being healed, “we brought cupcakes and a card to say thank you,” Sherrie says. “It’s a big deal when a wound heals after such a long time.”

Now Rollie can get around the house much better, visits his favorite stores (Kwik Trip and Menards), help tend to the couple’s lavish gardens, and go cruising in his golf cart with their beloved dog Jack.

To prevent future diabetic wounds, Rollie’s Wound Healing team encouraged him to lower his blood sugar. They arranged an appointment with Dr. David McIntyre, a family medicine specialist (who is diabetic, too) in the Northfield Clinic. “That’s made a big difference,” Rollie says. Dr. McIntyre recommended getting a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). “That’s the best thing since sliced cheese,” Rollie says. “I used to check my blood sugar maybe twice a day. Now I check it ten times a day because it’s so easy, and I really learn what affects my blood sugar and how fast it’s affected.”

Rollie didn’t need a doctor’s referral to get started at the Wound Healing Center.

“We saw something online and in NH+C Magazine and I said, ‘Let’s give it a try,’” Sherrie recalls. “We thought, ‘Northfield’s a little town, the metro hospital where we’re going must be better.’ We’re so glad we switched.”

“The staff is extremely good – friendly, kind, and on time,” Rollie says. “Jillian is great – very personable, and great at what she does.”

“It’s just fun to go there,” Sherrie adds. “The staff knows their stuff, and they’re chatty and willing to joke with you. It’s most important to get the wound healed – and when the experience is pleasant, that’s even better.”

“Most people don’t realize how debilitating chronic wounds can be. It can be very isolating, and keep you from doing things that once brought you joy,” Jillian says. “We work hard to make sure everyone who has a wound they want healed can get started as soon as possible, so they can close the chapter of their wound and get back to doing the things that make their hearts happy.”

Rollie’s advice? “Take your doctors’ suggestions seriously, because you can affect your own health.”

Sherrie adds: “If you’re having issues, give the Wound Healing Center a try. We didn’t cancel our metro appointments until we had two appointments here. We liked what we saw, and we kept going.”

And now Rollie is going wherever – whenever – he wants.