Mather Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy unit marks 30 years

Mather Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) unit was launched 30 years ago on June 14, the first such unit on Long Island and the only one in Suffolk County available for emergencies 24/7. 

The unit treats a wide range of conditions that respond to intense oxygenation, saving sight, limbs and lives. Staffed by critical care nurses, the unit has hyperbaric physicians representing family practice, internal medicine, emergency medicine, pulmonology and cardiology. 

“Thank you and congratulations to all of our current team and all of those who have helped to get us where we are today,’ said Joseph C. White, MD, Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at Mather. “We have changed medicine on Long Island by bringing a service that did not exist and may never have come to our Island…Hopefully, we will continue to serve the community for at least another 30 years!”

Long called upon to treat divers with decompression sickness or “the bends” HBOT is now used to treat a variety of medical conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning; non-healing wounds, especially in diabetics; and soft tissue injury or infection due to radiation. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also helps to preserve skin grafts and flaps, and most recently has been shown to be effective in treating patients with sudden blindness due to retinal artery occlusion.

Find more information at www.matherhospital.org/care-treatment/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-unit