"With the rising rate of diabetes, there is a great need for a specialized care center that can treat the ulcers associated with the disease as well as help patients with other skin, bone and tissue conditions caused by illness or injury," says Gerald Barbini, Allegan General Hospital’s President and CEO. "The center's doctors and clinical staff will be skilled in the latest therapeutic methods in wound management and stay abreast of leading information through continuous training. Patients will be treated with state-of-the art technology from having their progress charted through digital photographs to, in some cases, being treated in the center’s hyperbaric oxygen chamber."

To establish the center, Allegan General Hospital has partnered with Florida-based National Healing Corporation, which manages wound healing centers nationwide – including five in Michigan -- with an average healing rate of 80 percent attained in 12 to16 weeks of therapy. Although the centers treat patients with chronic and advanced conditions that have not responded to previous therapies, the rate of limb amputation for non-responsive wounds is less than two percent.

Program Director Rick Garlick explained, "We developed a methodology that has established an impressive record of healing wounds that others thought hopeless. After performing a full diagnosis on a patient's first visit, we take photographs of the wound at each subsequent visit to evaluate the therapy's progress. Our treatments are evidence based and best practice driven meaning our patients do not undergo any treatment or progress to a new level of treatment until the need is clearly indicated."

Likely candidates for treatment are those suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and wounds that haven't healed within 30 days. The center's hyperbaric oxygen chambers can also be used to treat patients suffering from such uncommon ailments as cyanide poisoning, gangrene, carbon monoxide poisoning, brown recluse spider bites and the “bends,” or decompression sickness.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy works by surrounding the patient with 100 percent oxygen at higher than normal atmospheric pressure. This increases the amount of oxygen in the patient's blood and, in the case of wounds, allows red blood cells to pass more easily through the plasma into the wound to heal it from the inside out. Diabetic foot wounds are an excellent example of wounds that may benefit most from this type of treatment.

Relaxing on a bed encased within a large see-through plastic shell, patients can watch movies on a television and DVD player mounted above the chamber while hearing the movies and conversing with others outside the chamber through a speaker system. The only physical sensation resulting from the treatment is a slight pressure on the eardrum, such as that felt when a plane lands, as the air in the chamber is compressed.

In addition to tissue oxygenation, AGH’s Wound Healing Center will also employ the use of vascular studies, tissue culturing and pathology, revascularization, skin grafting, and clinical or surgical debridement. For more information on AGH’s Wound Healing Center, please call (269) 686-HEAL (4325).

Allegan General Hospital is a community hospital that focuses on providing exceptional, compassionate and personalized healthcare to the community it serves. Allegan General provides a wide range of healthcare services, including bariatric, surgery, sleep center, emergency, physical rehabilitation and mental health. For more information on the hospital, visit www.aghosp.org.