LEWISBURG — James Hendricks relaxed under the covers watching Walker Texas Ranger on TV, but the atmosphere in this tube-shaped lounge was 100 percent oxygen.
“Time goes pretty fast watching TV,” the 72-year-old Milton resident said of his 90-minute session before entering the hyberbaric oxygen chamber at Evangelical Community Hospital. “It seems like a long period of time but it goes pretty fast.” Hendricks has been receiving hyperbaric oxygen therapy for wound care since late January. He had four toes amputated and, because he’s diabetic, the healing process has been taking much longer.
But the oxygen treatment — 90 minutes a day, five days a week — is speeding up the process.
“The patient gets infused with 100 percent pressurized oxygen,” said Donna Ross, program director. “It helps stimulate blood flow, helps promote the growth of new capillaries and helps a problem wound break the cycle of the wound not healing.” Many of the patients who receive hyperbaric oxygen care — which became available in December — are diabetic with wounds, or also patients with injuries from radiation. Average sessions are 90 minutes in length, five days a week. A total of 30 sessions is normal.
The hyperbaric chambers can also treat the following wounds: diabetic, venous stasis, skin grafts and flaps, crush/trauma/ burns, arterial/ischemic, pressure ulcers, soft tissue radionecrosis, chronic refractory osteomyelitis, non-healing wounds, vascular, osteoradionecrosis and surgical wounds.
Many patients sleep, watch TV or bring DVDs while they’re inside the chamber.
Medical Director Dr. James Morgan said the pressure inside the sealed chamber is equivalent to diving 30 to 60 feet into the ocean.
“You can’t have a bad heart or lungs,” Morgan said. “You can’t be claustrophobic and we have to make sure we can equalize pressure in the ears.” Pressure in the ears is the biggest complaint from patients.
At times, tubes will be inserted in the ears to relieve the pain, including Hendricks, who said he now has no problems whatsoever.
“Before it was like going up in an airplane,” Hendricks said. “My ears would ring, buzz. There’s none of that anymore.” While the patient is enclosed, Laura McClintock, hyperbaric technician, stays next to the chamber at all times, monitoring the individual throughout the session. She can talk to them through a phone hooked up to the side of the chamber and is able to hear the patients when they’re talking.
She also takes several tests before the patient goes in, including blood pressure and sugar.
“I feel great,” Hendricks said. “I feel as good coming out as I was going in.” Both Ross and Morgan said the hospital is thrilled to have the chambers available to patients and there have been a number of successes preventing amputations.
“We think it’s very exciting,” Ross said. “Evangelical is very pleased to be able to offer this treatment to patients as an alternative to wound care. It gives another opportunity to patients to get wounds healed.”
Life
Related Photos
-
Justin Engle/The Daily Item
Hyperbaric treatment: Oxygen speeds healing
For diabetics with wounds, it can avert amputations
- Life
-
-
Creative ways to use Easter leftovers
MOUNT PLEASANT MILLS -- What to do with leftover ham and hardboiled eggs? Here are some recipes from cookbook collector Connie Burge’s collection, as well as her well-loved macaroni and cheese casserole dish.
-
Valley experts differ on ideas for job creation
SUNBURY — When President Barack Obama gives his jobs speech Thursday night before Congress and a nation facing a 9.1 unemployment rate, he should act to lower the minimum wage and taxes, target government investments wisely, spend on long-lasting projects, or cut spending, reduce regulations and trim the size of Washington, Valley experts suggested.
-
Carbs under control
Parents with a child who has Type 1 diabetes sometimes find it difficult to let go of the important responsibility to constantly check insulin levels. Just ask Doreen Giordani, of Sunbury.
-
After the pounds come off
Bariatric surgery offers those who are 100-plus-pounds overweight a viable option for reclaiming their lives, a physician at Geisinger Medical Center noted.
-
Accreditation awarded to hospital
Sunbury Community Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval for accreditation by demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care and safety in hospitals.
-
16 years old and still growing
The more things change the more they stay the same. That's what Dr. Michael Ryan, director of pediatrics at Janet Weis Children's Hospital, in Danville, said, as he discussed the 16 year anniversary of the facility.
-
Americans turn to technology to control impulses
NEW YORK — Dan Nainan can't trust himself to work at his computer without clicking on distractions, so he uses an Internet-blocking program to shut down his Web access twice a day. "I'm sorry, but try as I might, I could never, ever do this on my own," said the New York City comedian who's struggling to finish a book. "I wish I could, but I just don't have the discipline."
-
Some babyproofing basics for the new year
Babies and toddlers are curious creatures. Something captures their attention — a stuffed animal, a shiny object or a noisy rattle — and they're going after it. Just make sure they aren't chasing a teddy bear on top of a dresser, the blade of a knife or a pill bottle.
-
Texts, Web really do allow Santa to be everywhere
PHILADELPHIA — He sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, and he knows how many followers you have on Twitter.
-
In tough economy, Santas are suffering
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Craig McTavish — a.k.a. Santa — has the beard. He has the belly. He even has a few tricks up his sleeve, like pulling up to parties on his Harley-Davidson in full Kris Kringle garb. But there's one thing he doesn't have: work.
- More Life Headlines
-
Creative ways to use Easter leftovers
