Carlsbad's New Medical Facility Helps Heal Wounds

At Tri-City Medical Center’s newest wound care center in Carlsbad, technicians and doctors demonstrate two new monoplace chambers in the hyperbaric medicine room.

To serve patients, these chambers are pressurized, filled with 100 percent pure oxygen, and sealed as tight as a hatch on a submarine. Dr. Paul Haydu, certified wound specialist physician, said the pure-oxygen treatment helps heal chronic wounds that just won't heal on their own.

“It allows patients to receive oxygen under pressure, which forces it into their bloodstream, saturates the blood with oxygen, and forces it into tissues that might not receive it because of various diseases such as diabetes, and arterial disease,” Haydu said.

Some people’s wounds won’t heal at all without hyperbaric treatment. Some are very serious and life-threatening. Although many types of patients need specialized care for wounds,  according to Tracy Younger, Tri-City's director of outpatient ambulatory care, the majority of them are diabetics.

“Sixty percent are diabetics, so we see a lot of diabetic foot ulcers, we see a lot of venus ulcers, and we also have a pathway for pressure ulcers,” said Younger.

Other patients who don’t need to use the hyperbaric chambers are assisted by nurses and doctors to find out what lifestyle changes they can make to accelerate healing. Registered nurse Theresa Petersen  is the clinical coordinator for the Carlsbad facility at 6260 El Camino Real, and she said a wound is just a symptom of something else.

“Something is brewing inside of them. We put all the pieces of the puzzle together, and we come up with a plan of care. We’re looking at infection control, nutrition and education.”

Petersen said with diet and nutrition plans, and infection control, often with antibiotics, old wounds can be healed quickly. A seven-week guideline is used for 50 percent healing, with a goal for the wound to be completely healed in 14 weeks.

At the grand opening of the new Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine, doctors, hospital executives and city leaders alike celebrated what they believe is an important addition to medical facilities and opportunities in Carlsbad.

Larry Anderson, CEO of Tri-City Hospital, is proud that the center was recently chosen as Facility of the Year by the 7th International Symposium for Hyberbaric Oxygen and the Future of Healing.

“Our wound-care program has been so successful, we received an award last year because of our 94 percent healing rate, against a national average of 84 percent," he said.  "We reached our maximum capacity at our wound care center in Oceanside."

Carlsbad Mayor Matt Hall said the location and convenience of this new center will serve Carlsbad residents well.

“They won’t have to drive to another community ... they offer a great service here, and they also have cutting-edge technology,” Hall said.

In the near future that technology will help hundreds of patients, with quicker healing time and increased health.

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