Published September 17, 2026
The Westerly Hospital Outpatient Wound Center team has been feeling pretty good about its outcomes of late; they’re healing their patients at success rates that have been crushing national averages.
While national clinical data indicate that approximately 60 percent of patients getting professional wound care can heal a chronic wound within 12 weeks, the Westerly team is healing about 90 percent of its patients within that 12-week time frame, including one recent stretch that hit 95 percent.
“Often, without treatment, chronic wounds may not heal,” said Anna Morgana, RN, Westerly Wound Care team clinical coordinator. “Our team delivers a patient-centered, interdepartmental team approach to develop a holistic plan of care for each patient’s particular wound.”
Morgan Lohman, APRN, one of the team’s nurse practitioners, believes there are multiple factors impacting the team’s success.
“Unlike some other departments, we have the opportunity to really get to know our patients,” she said. “We see them on a week-to-week basis, and it feels like a strong commitment. We become invested in each other’s success.”
Lohman also noted that wound care often has a “finish line” so the patient and team members get gratification.
“We see the measurements change, we see the wound change, we see the patient get more optimistic. All these things feed into positive outcomes,” Lohman said.
Another factor in Wound Care’s success is the team, she said. “We work together really well. We learn each other’s styles and how we flow, and that just makes us a little bit more effective.”
Perhaps no one knows all the aspects of wound care at Westerly better than Bridget Zern, APRN, a long-time member of the department.
“Wound healing is rarely the result of one person’s effort; it takes collaboration, trust and a team that includes, most importantly, the patient,” she said. “I often tell patients that 80 percent of what it takes to close a wound is a healthy patient; we just provide the environment for their bodies to do what bodies were designed to do – heal. Our patients are active partners in their own healing. Seeing our healing rates exceed the national average is gratifying because it reflects the quality of care our patients receive every day.”
