alpenadiver
Contributor
It's official the Chamber in Alpena is open, and I hope any divers never have to use it. But it's nice to know there is one close by.
The center comes after years of work and collaboration between ARMC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associations National Marine Sanctuaries. The center is the only one in the area, and NOAA officials said they hope it will be a model for other sanctuary communities to follow. ARMC Director of Cardiopulmonary Tom Kane said the centers hyperbaric chambers will help diabetes patients with problematic foot ulcers. The center may save a lot of amputations, he said. Its bringing just another cutting edge technology to Alpena Regional Medical Center, Kane said.
The chambers also can treat people for smoke inhalation and the bends, a affliction divers are susceptible to. That made creating a hyperbaric chamber in Alpena a priority for NOAA, which operates the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The sanctuary hosts numerous research and recreational divers every summer. Dan Basta, director of NOAAs National Marine Sanctuary Program, said the center will help Alpena attract even more of them. But he said he hopes no divers have to use them.
Probably most of the people who use these chambers will not be divers, he said. They will be people who use them for other illnesses.
The new center has two hyperbaric chambers but it could hold more in the future. NOAA donated $100,000 to ARMC for one of the chambers; the hospital purchased the other one with money from its endowment fund.
Basta called the collaboration between NOAA and ARMC a model partnership. He said NOAA selected Alpena over its 12 other sanctuary site to be a hyperbaric model because, with Saginaw and Marquette being the closest cities to offer the service, it was strongly needed here.
The center will keep regular hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will always have someone on call for emergencies, Kane said. Non-emergency patients will need to be heavily screened by their physicians to determine whether or not hyperbaric treatment is right for them, he said.
The centers administrator, John Schultz, said the center would not have been possible without NOAAs help. Theyve been involved with this from the get-go, he said.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent Jeff Gray returned the compliment, saying ARMC now has the staff and expertise to offer the service.
Alpena Regional Medical Center officially opened its Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine Thursday afternoon, which officials said is good news for people with certain types of wounds and divers.
The center comes after years of work and collaboration between ARMC and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Associations National Marine Sanctuaries. The center is the only one in the area, and NOAA officials said they hope it will be a model for other sanctuary communities to follow. ARMC Director of Cardiopulmonary Tom Kane said the centers hyperbaric chambers will help diabetes patients with problematic foot ulcers. The center may save a lot of amputations, he said. Its bringing just another cutting edge technology to Alpena Regional Medical Center, Kane said.
The chambers also can treat people for smoke inhalation and the bends, a affliction divers are susceptible to. That made creating a hyperbaric chamber in Alpena a priority for NOAA, which operates the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary.
The sanctuary hosts numerous research and recreational divers every summer. Dan Basta, director of NOAAs National Marine Sanctuary Program, said the center will help Alpena attract even more of them. But he said he hopes no divers have to use them.
Probably most of the people who use these chambers will not be divers, he said. They will be people who use them for other illnesses.
The new center has two hyperbaric chambers but it could hold more in the future. NOAA donated $100,000 to ARMC for one of the chambers; the hospital purchased the other one with money from its endowment fund.
Basta called the collaboration between NOAA and ARMC a model partnership. He said NOAA selected Alpena over its 12 other sanctuary site to be a hyperbaric model because, with Saginaw and Marquette being the closest cities to offer the service, it was strongly needed here.
The center will keep regular hours from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and will always have someone on call for emergencies, Kane said. Non-emergency patients will need to be heavily screened by their physicians to determine whether or not hyperbaric treatment is right for them, he said.
The centers administrator, John Schultz, said the center would not have been possible without NOAAs help. Theyve been involved with this from the get-go, he said.
Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent Jeff Gray returned the compliment, saying ARMC now has the staff and expertise to offer the service.
