Kathy Gerdes

Kathy and her fiancé Terry Rezac were working on their deck when it happened. He leaned a grate from their new grill up against a flowerpot; Kathy’s shoe caught the edge of the grill grate and it fell over, slicing into her ankle. “It was just a complete accident,” Kathy says. 

The cut took 26 stitches.  

But the stitches didn’t hold: There was a gaping hole, and the skin around the wound was turning dark. After two weeks, Kathy called the Wound Healing Center on the advice of her New Prague neighbor, a retired surgeon. 

The Wound Healing team debrided the wound, then wrapped it in manuka honey – yes, honey. Its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant properties promote faster healing and reduce infection risk.  

Kathy’s dressing was changed twice a week, once at home and once at the Wound Healing Center to check her progress. As the wound healed, treatment shifted from manuka honey to a collagen powder.  

The wound healed in 13 weeks. “I never did get an infection,” Kathy says.   

What she did get was high-quality care over a long period of time. “They were all very good. Anytime I called with a question, they called right back,” Kathy says. Dr. Ellie Cohen, Christina Richardson, FNP, CWON and Sydney Nerg, BSN, RN, PHN all “explained things very well.”  

And the location is convenient from her home in New Prague.  

“I enjoyed driving to Northfield every week,” Kathy says. “I didn’t have to drive to the Cities, which I appreciated. I just drove through beautiful farm country.” 

Her advice to others who get hurt: “Go to the Wound Healing Center right away. I wish I had gone sooner. I wasted two weeks having it stitched. If I had gone to the Wound Healing Center first it might have helped.”  

It’s worth the trip.