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Texas (KWTX) – Coryell Health Advanced Wound Center is home to a hyperbaric chamber used to circulate oxygen as a treatment for chronic diseases and wound healing
One of the most common chronic diseases treated at the facility is diabetes. Dr. Vanessa English, a podiatric physician at Coryell Health, said 1 in 8 people have diabetes and 1 in 4 of those people are unaware of their diagnosis
“We probably know someone in our lives with diabetes or chronic kidney disease, those are really common in public, everyone probably has a family member, a grandmother or grandfather and we see all of those in here, in conjunction with dialysis,” English said
The hyperbaric chamber helps bring down blood sugar levels in patients with diabetes by improving insulin use
“High pressure oxygen increases the body’s need to uptake insulin, so therefore the blood sugar goes down because the patient’s utilizing insulin or their medical insulin a lot better,” English said
Dr. English said patients typically see a 29 percent decrease in wound size after five sessions of hyperbaric therapy
Patient experience
Roy Ewing became a regular patient at Coryell Health after experiencing a toe injury. He said he has seen results from his time in the hyperbaric chamber
“After I had the injury to the toe and they decided the best option was to amputate it. Then they said we’ll put you in a hyperbaric to heal and it really turned on after I started doing this,” Ewing said
Expansion plans
Coryell Health said it hopes to add another hyperbaric chamber in the future to continue supporting patients
Other chronic illnesses affecting the U.S. population include high blood pressure, obesity, arthritis, heart disease, asthma and depression
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