PORT JEFFERSON, NY – Mather Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) unit will mark its 25th anniversary on Friday, June 14 with a celebration at the Hospital.
The HBOT unit treats a wide range of conditions that respond to intense oxygenation, saving sight, limbs and lives. Mather’s HBOT unit was the first of its kind on Long Island and is today the only one in Suffolk County available for emergencies 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Patients receive treatment in comfortable, pressurized chambers that deliver 100 percent oxygen.
Staffed by critical care nurses, the unit has eight physicians representing family practice, internal medicine, emergency medicine, pulmonology and cardiology. Three physicians are board certified in hyperbaric medicine.
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 treating patients with sudden blindness due to retinal artery occlusion.
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About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality healthcare services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion and respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather has earned the prestigious Magnet® recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), which recognizes healthcare organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. Mather also was ranked 21st out of almost 250 hospitals in New York State in U.S. News & World Report’s annual Best Hospitals rankings. For further information about Mather Hospital, visit www.matherhospital.org or “Like” us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/matherhospital. Mather Hospital is a proud member of Northwell Health.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, about 750 outpatient facilities and more than 13,600 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 69,000 employees – 16,000-plus nurses and 4,000 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu.