Hallym University Chuncheon Sacred Heart Hospital

Hallym University Dongtan Sacred Heart Hospital has opened Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center to treat patients with hypoxia for the first time in the Southern Gyeonggi Province on November 20. This hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility which has both single-person and multi-person treatment equipment is the first of its kind in the Gyeonggi Province.

The opening ceremony was attended by hospital leaderships including Executive Director Hee-Sung Yoon, Director Seong Ho Lee, Chief Medical Officer Seong Woo Han, Chief Administrative Officer Tae Jin Eom, in addition to government officials including Health Bureau Director General Jae-hoon Kim of Gyeonggi Province, Member Tae Hyoung Kim of Gyeonggido Assembly, Mayor Cheol-mo Seo of Hwaseong-si, and Chairperson Yu-min Won of Hwaseong City Council.

After a tragic accident of the carbon monoxide intoxication occurred in a pension in Gangneung, Gangwon Province in 2018, Gyeonggi Province recruited hospitals that were willing to adopt hyperbaric chambers as a preventive measure for similar accidents. Dongtan has been selected as the hyperbaric oxygen therapy facility for the region of the Southern Gyeonggi Province.

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a treatment that injects hyperbaric oxygen, which is two to three times higher than atmospheric pressure, to dissolve in the blood of the body. When breathing oxygen close to 100% in a chamber with applying pressure above level of 2 atmospheric pressure, oxygen concentration increases by 10 times and oxygen penetration ratio by 3 times compared to normal atmospheric pressure conditions. The high concentration oxygen supplied throughout the body is helpful to treat diseases caused by lack of oxygen in the body tissue.

Among symptoms that require hyperbaric oxygen therapy include carbon monoxide intoxication, decompression sickness, burns, Buerger’s disease, diabetic foot, brain abscess, refractory osteomyelitis, and necrosis from radiotherapy.

The center which is located in the second basement has a multi-person chamber and a single-person chamber to provide separate treatment spaces for those infected or suspected. It is expected to be more useful now that the COVID-19 pandemic is serious.

Professor Soon Joo Wang of Emergency Medicine who also serves as the director of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center said, “Dongtan hospital is committed to fulfilling its duty as a national safety net whenever an emergency situation occurs and it is fully ready to provide prompt and optimal treatment to severe emergency patients who need hyperbaric oxygen therapy.”

By Hyun Ho Choi, Int’l Cooperation Team, HUMC (dullie1989@hallym.or.kr)