Saint V's Celebrates New Wound Healing Center

Emily Micucci Saint Vincent Hospital CEO Erik Wexler (right) is joined by hospital staff at the ribbon cutting of the Wound Healing Center.

Emily Micucci Saint Vincent Hospital has become the only hospital in Worcester to offer offering hyperbaric oxygen treatment, which speeds the healing of serious wounds that might otherwise result in limb loss. A hyperbaric chamber is shown.

Write a Comment

By Emily Micucci

Officials and medical staff at St. Vincent Hospital celebrated the opening of the hospital's Wound Healing Center with a ribbon cutting ceremony and tours Wednesday afternoon.

Hospital CEO Erik Wexler lauded the center as the only one in Worcester offering hyperbaric oxygen treatment, which speeds the healing of serious wounds that might otherwise result in limb loss. It officially opened for treatment July 23.

“To have this at St. Vincent and to be the only one in the area to have this, I think is a really proud moment for us,” Wexler said.

Located on the north side of the hospital's third floor, the Wound Healing Center houses two hyperbaric chambers, which look like capsules. Patients lie in the chambers for two hours at a time in order to receive treatments. The treatments are painless, according to St. Vincent, and patients are able to watch television to pass the time.

A typical treatment round lasts at least 30 days, according to Elizabeth Mahanor, the center's medical director. Mahanor said diabetes patients, who are at an increased risk for developing serious wounds, will be the largest patient population the center will treat. But hyperbaric oxygen treatment is also appropriate for patients with trauma injuries, bone infections and those who have sores from radiation treatments.

It took about four months for St. Vincent to renovate its former pharmacy, now near the hospital's main entrance, to make way for the center, Wexler said. Each chamber cost about $150,000, he said.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also offered at Harrington Memorial Hospital in Southbridge.