Patient Success Stories

When wounds won't heal, visit the experts at Ingalls Hyperbaric and Wound Center

George Krach, 66, of Hazel Crest, suffered a devastating injury to his left foot when a 10 ton piece of construction equipment crushed it on a job site in Niles. Doctors at a hospital near the accident performed emergency surgery, gave him antibiotics and released him, doubtful the foot would ever heal.

When an infection set in, Krach sought care at Ingalls. Experts there recommended hyperbaric therapy to stop the infection, which had spread from his foot to his knee. "Ingalls comprehensive wound care services include an aggressive, integrated approach to wound management," explains Timothy Field, M.D., general/vascular surgeon and medical director of Ingalls Hyperbaric and Wound Center. “The program focuses on the best possible patient outcomes through the use of proven and adjunctive therapies."

One of the most effective adjunctive therapies is hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), an effective way to help the body repair wounds and fight infection. During hyperbaric therapy, a patient breathes pure oxygen for a short period of time while cradled within a special chamber pressurized to greater than sea level.

After 21 treatments in the hyperbaric chamber, Krach's foot was healed. And just 14 weeks after his accident, he was back at work. "As far as I'm concerned, Ingalls saved my foot and my life," he said.

"What matters most is that patients recover and get back to their productive lives," Dr. Field said.

Ingalls is the only wound treatment program in the area that has a total of three hyperbaric chambers, making it the most experienced wound treatment center in the area. "We have a 90 percent healing rate, which is among the highest anywhere," adds Bohdan Iwanetz, M.D., general surgeon and certified HBOT specialist.

When Frankfort resident James Paul lost part of his right foot from diabetes complications several years ago, a sore on the bottom of his foot became infected. But following 60 hyperbaric treatments at Ingalls under the care of Dr. Iwanetz, the infection is gone, and the remaining portion of his right foot is intact. A delighted Paul recently underwent fittings at Ingalls for a specially designed shoe to accommodate his right foot.

For more information, please call 708.915.4721

 

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