Wound Care Center a bright spot for SMC
Photo by JOSH MCDONALD Bonnie Spooner (middle) along with her wound care nurses Heather Hendrix (left) and Amber Melun. Spooner has been using Shoshone Medical Center’s Outpatient Wound Care Center since she had the lower part of her left leg amputated just a few weeks ago.
KELLOGG — Wound care is not something that is normally fun or enjoyable, but the Wound Care Center at Shoshone Medical Center isn’t your average wound care facility.
For Bonnie Spooner, the facility has provided her with care that she never envisioned she’d need, but is thankful that it’s available to her.
Spooner had her left leg amputated below her knee just a few short weeks ago, and while that experience would be traumatizing enough, the care she initially received from other facilities wasn’t anywhere near the quality she is receiving at Shoshone Medical Center.
“The customer service and degree of knowledge they have shown is just top notch,” Spooner said. “Sometimes you get doctors with poor bedside manner, but have a lot of knowledge or expertise. Here I feel like I am getting it all. I get all of the knowledge and experience, great bedside manner and people who care unbelievably.”
Lead by SMC nurses Heather Hendrix and Amber Melun, the still-fledgling outpatient wound care center is a place that has benefited local residents and provided them with a comfortable place to get treatment.
“We want this to be a place that is welcoming for people, because it’s not necessarily a place that people want to end up,” Melun said.
Hendrix was named employee of the year in 2018 for her work in wound care — something that Melun believes was based on the overwhelming lengths she goes to build and maintain real relationships with her patients.
“Our patients love her, like they truly love her and she has become a part of their daily lives,” Melun said. “And Heather remembers everything about all of her patients. Names, children, pets, circumstances, everything. She really puts forth the effort to get to know her patients and they can see it.”
Spooner makes the drive to the hospital from Medimont, where she could easily just go to a facility in Coeur d’Alene. She insists on coming to Shoshone Medical Center though simply because, in her opinion, the care is superior in every way.
For more information on the Shoshone Medical Center Outpatient Wound Care Center, call 208-784-1221.