Work outside Intermountain Health Lutheran Medical Office Building in Wheat Ridge recently resembled an episode from Star Trek. The reality will bring down-to-earth medical care for people suffering from hard-to-heal wounds. 

Crews from Saunders Construction Inc. used a crane to hoist two hyperbaric oxygen chambers to the medical office building’s fifth floor. 

Each chamber measures 8 feet 8 inches by 3 feet 7 inches and weighs approximately 2,200 pounds. They were installed in the new Intermountain Health Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Clinic. The clinic is set to open in November and will treat patients with hyperbaric therapy this winter.  

About 8 million people in the U.S. live with chronic wounds. Conditions requiring advanced wound care include diabetic foot ulcers, pressure sores, leg wounds caused from poor veins, and other non-healing wounds. 

Hyperbaric medicine can help patients with a range of problems including certain non-healing wounds, long term effects from cancer radiation treatment, and carbon monoxide poisoning. It can help speed up the wound healing process and help treat infection. 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy works by placing the patient in a clear chamber that contains 100% oxygen (compared to normal room air that has 21% oxygen). This helps the body heal by growing new skin, blood vessels, and tissue. The duration of the treatment and number of visits will depend on the patient’s health condition. 

Providing outpatient wound care and hyperbaric therapy is a new service for Intermountain Health patients in Wheat Ridge, Golden, Arvada, Lakewood, and surrounding communities. Intermountain Lutheran Hospital provides wound care for hospitalized patients. Outpatient wound and hyperbaric medicine also is available at Intermountain Health Platte Valley Hospital in Brighton.  

“Intermountain Health Lutheran Hospital is incredibly excited to be able to provide a high quality of wound care and hyperbaric services coming in fall 2025,” said Matthew Ethington, Intermountain Health director of wound and hyperbaric services. “Bringing these services to our community has the potential of making a huge impact for many years to come to those in need.”  

Ethington said the arrival of the hyperbaric chambers is one milestone among many that Lutheran Hospital has marked to achieve a goal of healing complex wounds for community members. 

El Intermountain Health St. George Regional Hospital se complace en anunciar la instalación de dos nuevas cámaras hiperbáricas monoplaza. Esto mejora la capacidad del hospital de brindar tratamientos que salvan la vida de pacientes en toda la región. Esta ampliación surge como respuesta a una creciente necesidad de la oxigenoterapia hiperbárica. 

En el último año, las cámaras hiperbáricas del Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital fueron esenciales en el tratamiento de casi 100 pacientes tras cuatro incidentes graves.

Estas cámaras, a menudo desconocidas para el público, son clave en el tratamiento de una amplia variedad de condiciones médicas, ya que utilizan oxígeno al 100 % que se administra en una cámara presurizada a niveles mayores que la presión del nivel del mar (normalmente el doble de la presión atmosférica).

“Nuestras cámaras hiperbáricas fueron esenciales en el tratamiento de los pacientes con intoxicación por monóxido de carbono, en la oxigenoterapia para heridas graves e, incluso, en casos de intento de suicidio”, afirma el Dr. Dallas Wright, médico especializado en medicina hiperbárica y cuidado de heridas en el Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital. “Estas nuevas cámaras monoplaza aumentarán nuestra capacidad de atender casos de gravedad, sobre todo porque somos la única instalación en la zona que ofrece estos servicios. A menudo recibimos pacientes desde lugares tan lejanos como Las Vegas, quienes confían en nuestras aptitudes únicas. 

La oxigenoterapia hiperbárica es beneficiosa porque utiliza un gran volumen de oxígeno para saturar la sangre y los tejidos con sus propiedades curativas. Esto sucede por el uso de un casco sellado o una máscara (similar a la de un piloto de avión) en la cámara hiperbárica multiplaza, o bien por respirar el oxígeno que ingresa en la cámara monoplaza. 

Actualmente, el hospital cuenta con una cámara amplia que tiene capacidad para doce personas. Contar con dos nuevas cámaras monoplaza mejorará significativamente la capacidad del hospital para atender más pacientes con mayor flexibilidad. Esto garantizará que el hospital continúe al frente de la atención hiperbárica en la región. 

Los cuidadores tuvieron la oportunidad de enviar muchas opciones creativas de nombres para las nuevas cámaras monoplaza y la cámara multiplaza actual. Luego, votaron por los nombres finales.

En la votación final se eligieron los siguientes nombres: Zion, para la multiplaza, y Bryce y Kolob, para las nuevas cámaras monoplaza.

“Estamos sumamente agradecidos por la confianza que nuestros pacientes depositan en nosotros y por el apoyo constante de nuestra comunidad. A medida que avanzamos, estas nuevas cámaras hiperbáricas serán el símbolo de nuestro compromiso por ofrecer la mejor atención posible, sin importar las circunstancias”, afirma el Dr. Wright.

La terapia hiperbárica puede administrarse con métodos que no siempre proporcionan oxígeno al 100 %.  Si tiene preguntas sobre los beneficios de estos métodos, necesita más información sobre los servicios hiperbáricos del Intermountain Health St. George Regional Hospital o desea obtener más información sobre el proceso de elección de nombres, visite intermountainhealth.org. 

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Intermountain Health St. George Regional Hospital is proud to announce the installation of two new monoplace, or single-person hyperbaric chambers, enhancing the hospital’s ability to provide life-saving treatment to patients across the region. 

This expansion comes in response to a growing need for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. During the last year, Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital’s hyperbaric chambers have been at the forefront of care during four major critical incidents, treating nearly 100 patients.

These chambers, often little known to the public, are critical for treating a wide variety of conditions as they use 100 percent oxygen administered in a pressurized chamber at levels greater than sea level pressure, typically twice the atmospheric pressure.

“Our hyperbaric chambers have been instrumental in treating patients for carbon monoxide poisoning, oxygen therapy for severe wounds, and even suicide attempts,” said Dallas Wright, MD, wound care and hyperbaric physician at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital. “These new monoplace chambers will bolster our capacity to deliver critical care, especially as the only facility in the area offering these services. We regularly receive patients from as far away as Las Vegas who rely on our unique capabilities.” 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy provides benefits by using a large volume of oxygen to saturate the blood and tissues with the oxygen's healing properties. This occurs from wearing a sealed hood or an airplane pilot like mask in the multiplace chamber or by breathing in the oxygen that fills the monoplace chamber. 

The hospital currently operates a large, multi-person chamber that seats twelve people. The addition of the two new monoplace chambers will significantly enhance the hospital’s ability to treat more patients with greater flexibility, ensuring that the hospital remains at the forefront of hyperbaric care in the region. 

Caregivers were given the opportunity to submit numerous creative name options for the new monopods, along with the current multi-person chamber. Then they voted on the final names.

The final voting picked the following names: Zion for the multi-person chamber, then Bryce and Kolob for the new monopods.

“We are deeply grateful for the trust our patients place in us and for the continued support of our community. As we move forward, these new hyperbaric chambers will stand as symbols of our commitment to providing the best care possible, no matter the circumstance,” said Dr. Wright.

Hyperbaric therapy can be offered in ways that don't always provide 100% oxygen.

If you have questions about the benefits of these methods, need more information about Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital’s hyperbaric services or to learn more about the naming process, please visit intermountainhealth.org. 

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Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center has received a national four-year reaccreditation with distinction from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, ensuring the center meets the highest standards of care and patient safety.

The center received reaccreditation after the society completed a rigorous evaluation and survey of the center’s caregivers, training protocols, and equipment to ensure the high quality of care is being provided to patients.

“Investing the time and effort to achieve accreditation, as well as getting recognized with distinction, validates that our clinic is providing the highest quality of care in the safest manner possible to our patients,” said Devin Beckstrand, MD, medical director of the hyperbaric and wound clinic at Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital. “This milestone reflects our clinic’s commitment to excellence and safety.”

UHMS Accreditation with distinction is considered the “gold standard” of excellence for hyperbaric clinics and is only awarded to 20 percent of the nearly 1,400 hyperbaric facilities in the United States.

Participation in the UHMS accreditation is voluntary but requires months of preparation for the more than 600 detailed queries covering patient care, safety, facility standards, equipment maintenance, and team-member training that are rigorously evaluated.

“Preparation for this accreditation actually began three years ago after our last accreditation survey,” said Dr. Beckstrand. “Like other high-quality wound care and hyperbaric medicine programs, we strive to constantly learn and incorporate new hyperbaric medicine techniques and principles every day.”

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy involves the use of nearly 100 percent oxygen administered in a pressurized chamber at levels greater than sea level pressure, typically twice the atmospheric pressure.

This pressure helps oxygen dissolve more rapidly into the blood advancing its absorption into damaged tissues to promote healing of certain wounds, damaged tissue and bone from radiation therapy, carbon monoxide poisoning, and other illnesses. 

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is often used as part of a multi-disciplinary approach to care, so Intermountain Health’s hyperbaric medicine specialists work with a patient’s entire care team.

Craig Yeager, 63, Hyrum, Utah, knows first-hand the importance of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

Earlier this year, Yeager says he was in danger of losing his foot and losing his life.

Yeager had a severe heart condition and needed an aortic valve replacement. However, his doctors told him they couldn’t do the procedure until he took care of his diabetic foot ulcers.

After two months and more than 60 treatments at the Intermountain Logan Regional Hospital Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Center, Yeager underwent a successful transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which is a minimally invasive cardiac procedure to treat aortic stenosis.

“It worked!” said Yeager. 

Yeager’s energy has returned and he’s now back on a bicycle and looking forward to a tandem bike tour with his wife this September.