Hyperbaric medicine gets a dose of kudos

Three patients were ensconced in clear tubes.

They seemed comfortable, prone and watching separate channels on flat-screen televisions hung before their chambers. Each patient had some kind of wound, and the hyperbaric treatment they were receiving provided oxygen to kill bacteria, develop new blood vessels and promote healing.

"For a lot of people who might have had an extremity amputated, this is an alternative," said Phil Minden, chief operating officer at Pasco Regional Medical Center, which operates the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Treatment off Eiland Boulevard.

"It's not for everybody, though," Minden said. "A lot of people don't know about hyperbarics."

On Friday, the wound center was presented Center of Distinction and Center of Excellence awards by Diversified Clinical Services, a Jacksonville company that manages the wound center. DCS touts itself as the world's largest wound-care company.

Jim Henry, who founded DCS, lauded the 97.5 percent patient satisfaction rating - the national average is 91.5 percent - and healing rate of 90 percent - the national average is 79.5 percent. Many patients, he said, are done with treatment at the wound center in 25 days, well below the national average of more than 47 days.

Many of the center's patients have diabetes or are elderly and have chronic, or nonhealing, wounds.

Almost 24 million Americans have diabetes, which is causing disability and death at an epidemic rate, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 6.5 million diabetics have chronic wounds.

Minor surgical procedures can be done at the center, which employees three physicians, Emilio Dominguez, the center's medical director, Keith Rosenbach and Petros Tsambiras, and six nurses. The center draws patients from Bushnell, Dade City, Land O' Lakes, Lutz, New Tampa, San Antonio and Webster, among other areas.

Mary Alice Hendricks, program director at the wound center, said officials at Pasco Regional decided to begin a hyperbaric program about three years ago. Patients typically receive hyperbaric therapy for two hours, five days a week. It commonly takes wounds 30 to 40 treatments to heal.

"Many patients around here were having to go to larger metropolitan areas to get this kind of therapy," Hendricks said. "It's very, very effective."