Montana has no dedicated center for children with severe injuries. Neither do the Dakotas or Wyoming, which leaves a family two options: drive hundreds of miles out of state, or find a surgeon willing to take the case nearby.

Dr. Katrina Weaver, pediatric surgeon at Logan Health Children's Hospital in Kalispell, built her practice around the second option. She joins host Brad Wiggins to walk through her use of Imbed Biosciences' SAMatrix™ (Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix) products, Pelashield® and Pelashield® PainGuard®, and to explain what changed in pediatric wound care once the harsh ingredients that stalled healing gave way to earlier grafting and real attention to the anxiety dressing changes create.

Through cases involving a teenage girl's boiling water burn, a Marine brought to his knees by a flame burn, a degloving injury from a boat grommet, and NICU stoma closures, Dr. Weaver describes what recovery looked like for each: a sweet sixteen the girl did not miss, a father throwing a baseball with his son the same day, a wound that healed without another debridement, and clean scars with no infections.

Hear why she no longer prescribes narcotics for these cases, how long the lidocaine in Pelashield® PainGuard® holds pain down during a dressing change, and whether she believes zero infections is a realistic bar for wound care.

Questions answered by this episode

1. How do you treat pediatric burns in a state with no burn center?
2. What is Imbed's SAMatrix™ Technology and how does Pelashield® adhere to the wound bed?
3. How long does the lidocaine in Pelashield® PainGuard® actually provide pain relief?
4. Can pediatric wound care be done without narcotics?
5. Does SAMatrix™ Technology work on degloving injuries and NICU stoma closures?
6. How often do you reapply Pelashield® and Pelashield® PainGuard®?
7. Is a goal of zero wound infections actually realistic?
8. Why does anxiety matter as much as pain in pediatric dressing changes?

GUESTS

Katrina Weaver, MD
Dr. Katrina Weaver is a pediatric surgeon at Logan Health Children's Hospital in Kalispell, Montana, where she cares for children whose families would otherwise travel hundreds of miles for burn and complex wound treatment. She previously served as director of pediatric burns at USA Health. Dr. Weaver completed medical school at the University of Utah, general surgery residency at the University of South Alabama, and fellowships in surgical critical care and pediatric surgery at Children's Mercy in Kansas City.

About Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN
Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN served patients for over three decades as a burn unit nurse before transitioning to clinical education. Today, as Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Imbed Biosciences, he's dedicated to advancing standards of care to help burn and wound care clinicians achieve better outcomes for patients.

Connect with Brad Wiggins on LinkedIn

About Zero Zone
Zero Zone brings together the people at the forefront of burn and wound care for conversations about the future of tissue regeneration and SAMatrix™ (Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix) Technology.With Brad Wiggins, longtime burn unit nurse turned clinical educator, surgeons, trauma specialists, and wound care teams share how they're reducing complications and improving patient outcomes.Hear discussion and analyses of real cases where SAMatrix™ Technology made the difference: what worked, what didn't, and how protocols are evolving to reduce opioids, get patients moving sooner, and how the burn care community is on a collective mission to achieve zero complications, together.

Learn more about Imbed Biosciences

Follow Imbed on Instagram @imbedbio and on LinkedIn

Zero Zone is a production of The Axis: theaxis.io

In small-town Vermont, the local hospital is the whole healthcare system for miles, and the doctor on call has to manage whatever walks through the door — teenagers mauled by family pets, farmers cut up by machinery, diabetic ulcers that haven’t progressed in months.

General surgeon Dr. Sarah Waterman joins host Brad Wiggins to walk through her use of Imbed Biosciences’ Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix (SAMatrix™) products — Microlyte®, Surgaflex®, and Pelashield®, as well as SAMatrix™ with PainGuard® that incorporates lidocaine HCl to help manage pain — across trauma, post-surgical, and chronic wound care.

Through cases involving a teenager’s dog bite with an exposed bicep tendon, an angle grinder injury packed with denim and metal grit, and chronic wounds stalled for hundreds of days, Dr. Waterman describes how SAMatrix™ products have helped her reduce reliance on skin grafts, suppressive antibiotics, and opioids.

Hear what the first-in-human Microlyte® trial taught her about bioburden and epithelial creep, why she now reaches for Surgaflex® around hernia mesh and bowel anastomoses, and how lidocaine in PainGuard® has made dressing changes tolerable on highly sensitive sites like the ear.

GUESTS

Sarah Waterman, MD
Dr. Sarah Waterman is a general surgeon at Copley Hospital in Vermont, where her practice spans breast cancer, trauma, and wound care for a community that often can’t travel for advanced treatment. Before medicine, she worked in emergency planning and disaster management — including a post-Katrina deployment in North Carolina — before training in a general surgery program at Mission Hospital in Asheville, where she helped run the first-in-human clinical trial of Microlyte® as a resident.

About Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN
Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN served patients for over three decades as a burn unit nurse before transitioning to clinical education. Today, as Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Imbed Biosciences, he’s dedicated to advancing standards of care to help burn and wound care clinicians achieve better outcomes for patients.

Connect with Brad Wiggins on LinkedIn

About Zero Zone

Zero Zone brings together the people at the forefront of burn and wound care for conversations about the future of tissue regeneration and SAMatrix™ (Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix) Technology.

With Brad Wiggins, longtime burn unit nurse turned clinical educator, surgeons, trauma specialists, and wound care teams share how they’re reducing complications and improving patient outcomes.

Hear discussion and analyses of real cases where SAMatrix™ Technology made the difference—what worked, what didn’t, and how protocols are evolving to reduce opioids, get patients moving sooner, and how the burn care community is on a collective mission to achieve zero complications – together.

Learn more about Imbed Biosciences

Follow Imbed on Instagram @imbedbio and on LinkedIn

Zero Zone is a production of The Axis: theaxis.io

Effective burn and wound care encompasses both pain control and infection risk management to ensure optimal outcomes as well as a superior patient experience. 

Burn surgeon Dr. Victoria Miles and trauma surgeon Dr. Carmen Flores join host Brad Wiggins to discuss recent clinical experiences using emerging tissue regeneration technologies in complex burn and wound care, including Imbed Biosciences’  Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix (SAMatrix™) Pelashield® PainGuard®, containing both antimicrobial silver and lidocaine HCl for simultaneous wound protection and pain-relief.

Through cases involving donor sites, chronic wounds, and limb salvage, they describe how incorporating these products into the care regime for these types of wounds can help create a more favorable healing environment. 

Hear their approaches to managing donor site pain, controlling microbial burden in high-risk and colonized wounds, and supporting earlier mobility and graft integration for their patients. The surgeons note reductions in opioid requirements and the downstream impact that improved pain control can have on rehabilitation and recovery. 


GUESTS

Victoria Miles, EMT-P, MD

Dr. Victoria Miles is an assistant professor of burn surgery at LSU and a burn surgeon with advanced training from UT Southwestern’s Parkland Hospital, where she earned the Top Knife Award for technical excellence. She is an active leader in national and international burn organizations and has authored more than 40 publications focused on burn care, resuscitation, and limb salvage.

Connect with Dr. Victoria Miles on LinkedIn

Carmen Flores, MD, FACS

Dr. Carmen Flores is an acute care, trauma, and burn surgeon practicing at a Level I trauma center in Las Vegas, where she treats complex burn injuries, chronic wounds, and limb salvage cases. Her work focuses on managing high-risk, chronically infected wounds and improving patient outcomes through advanced surgical and wound care strategies, particularly in medically underserved settings.

About Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN

Brad Wiggins, BSN, RN, CBRN served patients for over three decades as a burn unit nurse before transitioning to clinical education. Today, as Vice President of Clinical Affairs at Imbed Biosciences, he's dedicated to advancing standards of care to help burn and wound care clinicians achieve better outcomes for patients.

Connect with Brad Wiggins on LinkedIn

About Zero Zone

Zero Zone brings together the people at the forefront of burn and wound care for conversations about the future of tissue regeneration and SAMatrix™ (Synthetic Antimicrobial Matrix) Technology.

With Brad Wiggins, longtime burn unit nurse turned clinical educator, surgeons, trauma specialists, and wound care teams share how they're reducing complications and improving patient outcomes. 

Hear discussion and analyses of real cases where SAMatrix™ Technology made the difference—what worked, what didn't, and how protocols are evolving to reduce opioids, get patients moving sooner, and how the burn care community is on a collective mission to achieve zero complications – together.

Learn more about Imbed Biosciences

Follow Imbed on Instagram @imbedbio and on LinkedIn

Zero Zone is a production of The Axis: theaxis.io