Lafayette General Medical Center Buys Largest Monoplace Hyperbaric Chamber Available

Lafayette General Medical Center has purchased a new hyperbaric chamber for its Wound Care and Hyperbarics Department. Hyperbaric chambers are large cylinder machines that deliver oxygen-rich atmospheric therapy to patients to speed-up wound healing. This is the department’s third chamber on site.

This new chamber, a Sechrist model 4100H/HR, is the largest single-person model available. It can accommodate patients that can’t lie flat, secondary to heart failure, or those that are claustrophobic or obese.

LGMC treats all types of wounds, from chronic ulcers and infected sores to burns and post-operative incisions. Having three hyperbaric chambers increases LGMC’s ability to achieve a primary goal of the department: wound healing and limb salvage. A hyperbaric chamber delivers 100% oxygen under increased atmospheric pressure to the whole body. Increased oxygen delivery to wounds helps them heal by speeding up growth of new blood vessels. The atmospheric pressure and number of treatments varies according to the particular disease or problem being treated.

“As they become aware of its benefits, more physicians are sending patients to use the hyperbaric chambers,” says Christine Simon, Clinical Nurse Manager of the department. “This model is the biggest one you can get,” she says.

The new machine includes other improvements as well. The chamber’s carriage can be stored underneath the machine, saving space for the department when it’s not in use. Additional controls on the larger model also allow the new chamber to be cooled down quicker.

“There’s so much potential for what we can do here,” explains Dr. Rochelle Duplechin, who staffs LGMC’s Wound Care and Hyperbarics Department. “We want our community and our health care colleagues to know we are here, know what we have and what we can offer,” she says.