The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

DAYTON-Dayton General Hospital is adding Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) to its wound care treatment protocol.

There is a growing need for chronic wound care, especially for patients with diabetes, which is the number one reason for treating chronic wounds, said Dr. Kurt Frauenpreis, Program Medical Director, and Provider.

"We're living longer but we're not taking care of ourselves. Younger people are being diagnosed with diabetes and the expense is horrendous, right now," he said.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy works by helping the body's oxygen-dependent, wound-healing mechanisms function better.

While enclosed in the chamber at greater than normal atmospheric pressure, patients breathe pure oxygen, which saturates the blood plasma, allowing it to carry from 15 to 20 times the normal amount of healing oxygen to the body's tissues.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is also used to treat other disorders such as neuropathic ulcers, pressure ulcers, and ischemic ulcers. It is also used to treat trauma-caused and surgically-caused wounds, burns, venous insufficiency, as well as other chronic non-healing wounds.

When a patient is referred by a physician to the Wound Care Center for treatment, and authorization from the insurance company is given, an appointment will be made for evaluation and treatment, Frauenpreis said.

If the criteria is met for HBOT then the patient will undergo treatment with multiple visits. Depending on the patient's response, each treatment, or "dive" in the chamber will take around 90 minutes to complete.

"The surrounding medical community is on board with this," Frauenpreis said.

Dayton General Hospital has been preparing for this new service line for many months, through outreach and marketing and hiring and training of staff.

Angela Trenti has been a nurse practitioner for the past 15 years and she is the new clinical program director for the Wound Care Center.

Trenti said she has visited with discharge planners at Providence St. Mary's Hospital in Walla Walla as well as with managers at the Walla Walla Clinic, Home Health Agencies, and cardiologists to bring them on board with treating patients at DGH's Wound Care Center.

Trenti has also reached out to administrators in the nursing program at Walla Walla Community College, inviting them to engage nursing students in the program, she said.

The closest HBOT is at Kadlec Medical Center, in Richland, and for patients in Walla Walla the trip to DGH is a better option, Trenti explained.

Michele Smith

The oxygen plant supplies liquid oxygen for the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy chambers.

Kadlec Medical Center is willing to share some of their patients with DGH, too, Trenti said.

Nurse Practitioner Melissa Czapka, is the Wound Care Center provider. She said she will be seeing patients and caring for their wounds.

Certified Respiratory Technician Tom Anderson, is the HBOT Technician and safety officer, and his wife, Kathy Anderson, CRT, is also an HBOT Technician.

Other wound care nurses are Lindsay Auchterlonie, RN, and Gayle Rex, RN.

Czapka, Trenti, and Dr. Frauenpreis have all undergone, or will undergo, more specialized training at Healogics, Inc. in Jacksonville, Florida.

Healogics, Inc. considers itself to be the premier provider of advanced wound healing services, with around 800 Wound Care Centers and a network of specialists throughout the nation.