MOUNT VERNON — The new Center for Wound Healing at Knox Community Hospital will officially open Sept. 8, but doctors and hospital staff held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Tuesday evening to celebrate the new facility that has been planned for nearly a year.
Two new hyperbaric oxygen therapy chambers, on the second floor of the KCH pavilion, will allow patients with wounds that refuse to heal to undergo the therapy while relaxing and watching movies inside a large chamber enclosed in clear acrylic. Inside the sealed chamber, they are surrounded by 100 percent oxygen at higher-than-normal atmospheric pressures, which has been proven to painlessly promote cell growth and help wounds heal.
Slow-to-heal wounds that can benefit from the therapy include diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, bone and skin infections, radiation injuries and compromised or failing skin grafts or flaps. The patient’s therapy is conducted five days a week, from 90 minutes to two hours each session. The average number of treatments varies from 20 to 40.
During therapy, patients rest and watch DVDs on a monitor placed outside the chamber. They can also listen to audio books on CD, but cannot bring books or newspapers into the chamber. They communicate with a technician via an intercom.
The center’s literature notes that most patients do not suffer from claustrophobia during treatment, thanks to the chamber’s large size and also because patients can see out of it in all directions. The literature also explains the therapy is “very safe” and “the only physical sensation from the treatment is a slight pressure on your eardrums, such as that felt when a plane lands.” The chambers are manufactured by Pan-American Hyperbarics Inc., which has offices in Texas, Florida and Taiwan.
Sarah Beidelschies, the center’s new program director, said a Boca Raton, Fla., company known as National Healing Corp., which specializes in wound care management for hospitals, actually owns the center.
“It is a hospital clinic,” said Beidelschies. “National provides the staffing. The chamber and everything else is KCH. It’s a joint partnership.”
She noted that 29 patients are already scheduled to undergo treatment as soon as the center opens.
“They say time heals all wounds,” said Bruce White, KCH chief executive officer, “but that’s not necessarily the case. We’re really excited to have this wound center in our community. People can get the treatment they need right here in Knox County.”
Stephen Vincent, M.D., is the center’s medical director. Also on staff are physicians Robert Atwell, Robert Rodstrom, Larry Reed and S. Patel, all of whom trained in conducting hyperbaric oxygen therapy for six days at The Ohio State University Medical Center.
Vincent, who also has a private practice, said he will be in the center one-half day each week.
“The [hyperbaric oxygen therapy] concept is important for many because,” said Vincent, “being a vascular surgeon, I see up to 30, 40 percent of our patients who present with chronic nonhealing wounds. It’s important to have a center like this to promote healing without surgical reconstruction.”
“This is very special,” said Mount Vernon Mayor Richard Mavis, who was remembering his diabetic grandmother who suffered for years from a ulcer on her leg that never healed. He marveled at today’s hyperbaric therapy, which could have helped her.
“This is another level of health care in the community,” he said. “Thank you for the year in planning this, thank you for the forward thinking.”
