March 24, 2026
This piece is sponsored by Sanford Health.
Dale Rollag had always encouraged his daughters to be problem-solvers, so when Angel Rollag Bonacker and Amanda Rollag thought there must be a better way to do something, they went ahead with the search for a solution.
When their father began his recovery from open-heart surgery, the sisters, who were both Sanford Health nurses at the time, worked on ways to fix the following problem:
In the weeks after patients have open-heart surgery, they’re asked to carry around a blanket or pillow they can use to brace against their chests when they cough, sneeze, laugh or are involved in any other sudden movement that could damage a healing sternum.
Like heart surgery patients everywhere, Dale Rollag struggled with the idea that he needed to carry a blanket around with him. As he and his daughters discussed the blanket method, they all agreed that it has some inherent weaknesses. His recovery included several near falls, for instance. There also were several occasions when he misplaced his blanket or he dropped it on the floor.
Motivated by their father’s discomfort and the desire to improve patient safety, the sisters designed an innovative solution: the Sternum Protector pad.
Sisters Amanda Rollag and Angel Rollag Bonacker, both Sanford Health nurses, created the Sternum Protector pad with their dad after his open-heart surgery.
This device is worn directly over the chest and secured with straps, allowing patients to keep their hands free. Instead of fumbling for a blanket, patients simply can press their hand against the pad to support their healing sternum during any sudden movement. The pad is designed to fit comfortably over the chest and is easily adjustable to accommodate different body types, ensuring secure support during everyday activities.
“Hands-free protection with 24-hour coverage can be transformative during recovery,” said Rollag Bonacker, a PRN. “You could go out on the bike trails, you could be protected in your car – it offers you protection when your dog is jumping on you. It’s protecting you from infections and injuries. It can help in so many different ways.”
Developing a plan
Getting the device from the sisters’ brains to the homemade prototype their father used was the first step, but there were many steps to follow in delivering a product that Sanford Health now provides at two of its Sanford Health Equip medical supply stores.
As the Rollags would learn, there are a lot of layers involved, particularly with medical devices. With help from Sanford Innovation and Commercialization, however, they were able to navigate a process they now regard as a tribute to their father, who died in a car accident in May 2020.
“It was his dream to get this invention out there,” Rollag Bonacker said. “He was so proud of us. He was like, ‘We have to get this out to everybody.’ We tried to remind him that it was going to be pretty hard to launch a medical device, but when he passed, we decided we were going to do everything we could to launch this in his memory.”
The device had two things going for it throughout its development:
It worked. Dale Rollag was safer during his recovery from open-heart surgery because his daughters invented the Sternum Protector.
Nobody had thought of it before. It was genuinely a unique product in the health care space.
“It’s really interesting that they came up with this idea, both from the scope of their work as nurses and through their own life situation,” said Eva Gut, innovation strategist at Sanford Health. “This came from their dad being sent home and told to hold a blanket to his chest.”
In this case, the Sternum Protector’s beauty was that it accomplished a lot without being complicated.
“It’s such a simple innovation – it’s ideal because it solves a challenge, improves patient safety and the patient experience,” said Katie Pohlson, Sanford vice president of innovation and commercialization. “The best ideas come from our front lines and help solve problems for our patients and caregivers.”
Advancing sound ideas
By following the Sternum Protector’s development, you can see how Sanford Innovation and Commercialization helped the Rollags and continues to help others advance their ideas within the health system.
The innovation team began by determining this was a novel idea. It meant that directing expertise and resources to its development would be new territory in health care. To that end, they helped put together a commercialization plan fueled by market research.
Sanford Health Equip was an ideal partner in the commercialization effort. By providing the product with an appropriate platform, open-heart surgery patients eventually had access to the same sternum protection that helped Dale Rollag.
“We need to determine what makes a product unique before we put it on the shelves,” said John Lowry, vice president of Sanford Health Equip. “Let’s say somebody comes up with a new crutch. It might be an innovative crutch, but is it different enough that it would be something people would buy? We also need to determine if patients recognize this as important.”
Getting a big boost
While the Sternum Protector counts as a big win for the innovation and commercialization team, there are many other Sanford people who have sought expertise in developing their own concepts. These efforts have led to more than $11 million in licensing revenue to date, involving 231 unique inventors.
In addition, Sanford has eight commercialized technologies on the market that originated with Sanford people, with one pending approval and another in a Phase 2 clinical study.
“If people want to explore a new invention, we have a lot of things we can offer,” Pohlson said. “We have a makerspace here at the Innovation Center at the Virtual Care Center that allows people to come in and create their devices. We’ve had several people come in and make an early prototype. We have 3D printing and an engineer available to assist with those devices.”
The sisters continue entrepreneurial efforts with the Sternum Protector, which won an award at the South Dakota Governor’s Giant Vision Competition a few years ago for being one of the state’s top inventions. Rollag Bonacker and her husband, Matt, own an industrial sewing company in Sioux Falls and have started to manufacture the protectors – including a new child and toddler sized model.
They will proceed knowing they got a big boost from Sanford, where those on health care’s front lines are often the best sources for better ideas.
“We really wanted to have Sanford on the map for this because they’ve been the people who lifted us from the ground up,” Rollag Bonacker said. “They’re leaders in improving patient care, and they’ve proved it by being super-helpful to us.”
Do you have a good idea?
Sanford Health employees have the opportunity to bring their ideas to the innovation and commercialization team for consideration. If you have an innovative solution to a challenge or a concept you would like the team to review, please send a brief description of it and your contact information to innovations@sanfordhealth.org.
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