CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – The Hyperbaric Chamber at Clarion Hospital’s Center for Wound Care offers some unique healing options and even provided one local man with the chance to start going back to church.
(Photo: Randy Richman, Dr. Catherine Cunningham, Robert Lander, and Lisa Cheatle R.N.)
Clarion Hospital recently marked the first anniversary of the arrival of the hyperbaric chamber. It now treats four patients per day in two-hour sessions.
The non-emergent chamber, which uses 100 percent pressurized oxygen to speed healing of wounds, was just what Robert Lander of Lucinda needed. Lander was in constant pain after receiving radiation therapy to treat his prostate cancer. The radiation resulted in scarring of the bladder and pelvic area, causing problems with pain, incontinence, and bleeding.
“His doctor down in Pittsburgh said he didn’t know if the hyperbaric chamber would help all that much, but because of the oxygen flow under pressure and oxenization of the issues, it promotes healing and new cell growth,” Dr. Catherine Cunningham, medical director of the Wound Center.
Lander started his therapy in early March and stopped at the end of September, receiving 118 treatments, Monday through Friday, for over six months.
“I feel quite a bit better now,” said Lander. “I don’t feel the pain I used to and I don’t get blockage of blood in my bladder anymore. I’m able to sit long-term instead of wondering if I can even sit down.”
The pain and pressure even forced him to stop going to St. Joseph’s Church for some time.
“I even had to give up church,” said Lander. “I was too sore. Even the cushion that you get for hemorrhoids didn’t work because there was just too much pain there. The other reason I couldn’t go to church was because the fact that my bowels were so loose that if I stood up I had to run to the bathroom because it had to be done that quickly. The treatment seems to have even straightened that out.”
The chamber allows patients to make new blood vessels grow tissues back to normal, according to Cunningham.
“We pressurize the chamber with 100 percent oxygen, equivalent to two atmospheres or if if you were 33 feet below sea level,” said Randy Richman, regional director for Share Health Services, Inc.
“The patient himself doesn’t feel anything different in their body. They do have to clear their ears, the same as if you’re on an airplane or traveling in a car over hills…you do have to pop your ears. They do that for the first 15 minutes while they get the pressure and once the pressure is gone, it’s the same as sitting in this room.”
Richman continued, “The last 15 minutes, as we are decompressing the chamber by letting the air out, you have to pop your ears again because we’re bringing it back up to surface level and then they’re good to go.”
“As long as their breathing that air at that pressure, they are getting the treatment. They can sleep in that chamber; they can watch TV, or whatever they want because as long as you’re breathing, it’s working.”
Shared Health Services owns the chamber and Clarion Hospital provides the physicians and facilities and works with Richman. The number of patients is limited because there is only one such machine at the wound center. All area insurances are approving the treatment.
“I guess that in all of our diagnosis of patients, you have some vascular damage,” explained Richman.
“With diabetic patients there’s damage to the blood vessels because of diabetes in their feet and things like that. The chamber gives healing a chance that hasn’t been able to take place under standard, conventional therapy. In the long-term radiation patient, it’s the same thing. Those vessels in his bladder were damaged, and we grew new blood vessels. That growth is permanent in his bowel. His bowels were loose because of the damage.”
The Center for Wound Care at Clarion Hospital offers a unique program specifically designed for each patient. Many medical conditions can cause non-healing wounds, and the addition of the hyperbaric chamber helps improve the healing. Lisa Cheatle R.N. is the program coordinator.
Lander is pleased with the treatment and said he would like to help get the word out about the service.
“It was great,” said Lander. “I’d go through it 100 times, if it helped, and even the 118 sessions each time.”
HYPERBARIC QUICK FACTS
Benefits of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy
– Advanced Wound Healing
– Formation of New Blood Vessels
– Increased Oxygen Delivery to Injured Tissues
– Improved Infection Control
– Preservation of Damaged Tissues
– Elimination of Toxic Substances
Commonly Treated Conditions
– Chronic Bone Infections
– Non-Healing Diabetic Foot Ulcers
– Failing Skin Grants
– Delayed Effects of Radiation
– Crash Injuries
– Other Types of Non-Healing Wounds
