St. Vincent’s St. Clair will soon expand outpatient services, offering comprehensive treatment of chronic and non-healing wounds.

On Tuesday crews installed two single-unit hyperbolic chambers in the St. Vincent’s St. Clair Advanced Wound Center that is scheduled to open in late July.  The Advanced Wound Center will be located in the Physician’s Plaza.

“St. Vincent’s St. Clair continues to expand the services we offer to our community, and we are pleased to be adding advanced wound care services,” said Kidada Hawkins, Interim President of Rural Hospital Operations.  “Our mission is to improve the quality of life for our patients. Our staff and physicians will work together to promote an accelerated healing of wounds associated with diabetes, pressure ulcers, traumatic wounds and other causes.”

Patients will be able to receive treatment for various types of chronic wounds including: pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, arterial ulcers diabetes-associated foot and leg ulcers, wounds caused by radiation therapy and non-closing surgical wounds.

“The key to treating chronic wounds is to generate healing tissue,” Dr. James West said.  Dr. West is a general surgeon who will serve as the Medical Director of the new center.

One of the featured treatment options available at the Advanced Wound Center is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT).  HBOT is designed to increase partial pressure of oxygen in tissues of the body, thereby increasing blood flow.

“Everything is predicated on blood flow,” said Phillip Hadley, Jr., Director of the Advanced Wound Center.

To be treated for HBOT, patients are placed in a hyperbaric chamber that delivers 100 percent pure oxygen to the body.  Treatments last approximately two hours.

The Advanced Wound Care Center also contains four exam rooms for patients to be evaluated and treated in and a staff of two nurses, a clinical manager, an HBOT tech, an office coordinator and a director to attend to patient needs.

“The biggest hurdle was getting the hyperbaric chambers in.  Now we have to focus on staffing,” Hadley said.

According to the Association for the Advancement of Wound Care, it is estimated that nearly six million Americans suffer from chronic, non-healing wounds.

As St. Vincent’s St. Clair prepares to open the new center Hadley says he wants the Advanced Wound Care Center to be the first choice for area residents seeking chronic wound treatment.