In a bustling South Jersey medical community, Lourdes Specialty Hospital (LSH), the first Long Term Acute Care Hospital (LTACH) in southern New Jersey and the largest facility of its kind in the Delaware Valley, distinguishes itself as the areas only LTACH offering an inpatient treatment that is unavailable elsewhere in the region -- hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT).
As a provider of intensive acute care services to medically complex and critically ill patients requiring extended hospital stays, LSH gives patients access to comprehensive services and progressive treatment options such as HBOT to treat a gamut of complex medical conditions.
HBOT works by increasing the amount of oxygen the blood carries to organs and tissues, thereby helping patients heal faster and more effectively. This therapy can be highly beneficial for treating conditions such as non-healing wounds. With HBOT, patients breathe 100 percent oxygen inside a chamber with air pressure greater than normal atmospheric pressure. Oxygen so essential to healing travels through the bloodstream to damaged tissue. When oxygen reaches the injury site, healing accelerates. Along with dramatically boosting the bodys healing time, HBOT also strengthens the immune system.
HBOT is largely unavailable on-site at most area hospitals, requiring ill patients to travel to an off-site facility for treatment. LSH is pleased to be able to provide this service to patients in the convenience of the hospital setting. With the success of the first hyperbaric chamber at Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County, the Willingboro hospital recently added a second hyperbaric chamber to give inpatients greater access to this cutting-edge therapy.
The list of conditions that benefit from HBO therapy has grown exponentially, particularly in the area of chronic-wound care and diabetes treatment. HBO therapy is commonly used in the treatment of:
Wound healing (especially for problem wounds, such as foot ulcers related to diabetes)
Decompression sickness (the bends)
Healing after trauma or surgery or both, including healing of skin grafts or flaps
Bone infections called osteomyelitis
Tissue damage from radiation therapy
Carbon-monoxide poisoning
Burns
Significant blood loss
Lourdes Specialty Hospital of Southern New Jersey (LSH) is a 69-bed Long Term Acute Care (LTAC) Hospital, providing acute care to critically ill and medically complex patients. The hospital provides specialized acute care to patients who require an extended hospital stay averaging greater than 25 days. LSH occupies an 8 million dollar, newly renovated hospital on the campus of Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County. Lourdes Medical Center is a 249-bed facility, which is part of Lourdes Health System. Lourdes Specialty Hospital's interdisciplinary healthcare team and a medical staff of approximately 300 physicians serve the regional communities and meet the unique needs of each patient. LSH primarily serves the Delaware Valley region, including Mercer, Salem, Gloucester, Burlington, and Camden Counties, as well as Philadelphia and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
