Advanced Wound Care, One-of-a-Kind Oxygen Therapy in Central Illinois
Kati Fryman, BSN, RN, CWON, loves interacting with her patients in an outpatient setting at the Passavant Area Hospital Advanced Wound Healing Center.
“Because you see patients multiple times a week, you really get to know them and their family,” she said. “You see them from start to finish–the whole transformation with the healing.”
Kati is just one part of a team of specialists and wound ostomy certified nurses trained in advanced wound care and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
Treatable at the Advanced Wound Healing Center:
- Diabetic foot ulcers
- Venous stasis ulcers
- Post-surgical incisions
- Radiation wounds
- Traumatic injuries
- Pressure ulcers
- Any other wound not healing within thirty days
After radiation treatments, George Estabrook, 78, struggled with stubborn scar tissue, and his doctor recommended HBOT.
The Advanced Wound Healing Center provided him with healing strategies that included using a hyperbaric multi-place chamber, the only one of its kind in central Illinois. Instead of a single chamber, there are several seats and a television to watch inside the hyperbaric chamber during the two-hour treatments.
Brian Glascock, CHT, supervisor and safety director, explained how the pressurized chamber increases the amount of oxygen in the blood. Noninvasive and painless, the procedure increases air pressure and allows your lungs to take in more oxygen. The result is your blood takes more oxygen to your tissues which heal quicker.
George came in every day to see Brian and the team, except for holidays. He had 40 treatments and appreciated the convenience of staying in town.
“The first time or two, I was nervous,” George said. “But within a week, I noticed I wasn’t having the problems I had been having. Jenny Prather (HBOT technician) went out of her way to make sure your ears weren’t having problems with the equalized pressure.”
Kati appreciates the opportunity to educate patients and their family and to brainstorm together.
“I like explaining to patients how they got the wound, why it’s not getting better, what might work for them instead,” she said. “We try to give patients the same nurse every time they come in. There’s a level of familiarity that builds a bond with the patient and with their family.”
Roger Deem, 60, experienced multiple toe amputation surgeries from his battle with diabetes. The Advanced Wound Healing Center provided him healing strategies including the hyperbaric multi-place chamber.
“You meet the staff–they are all cut from the same cloth,” Roger said. “These are caring, loving, professional people who are very, very good at what they do. There is nowhere else I would ever go. I know I will be well cared for when I walk into those doors.”
For more information about the Passavant Advanced Wound Healing Center, call 217-479-5769.