HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Barry Stephens said his time as a wound care patient at Crestwood Medical Center ended about 5 months ago in January. "I had a chance of losing my foot. They're very patient here and they don't get riled by different things. So I like that, and because of that, my leg got healed."
Stephens explained that he had been in Florida in December of 2021,"...and while I was down there, I'd gotten a blister on the back of my heel and came back to Alabama in January and it started getting worse." So he went to his primary care physician and they referred him to a wound care doctor, at another location. "They looked at it for a couple of years, a couple weeks and treated it, but it wasn't getting any better. It was infected," he explained.
That's when Stephens found Crestwood Wound Care. "Almost a year later to the day I got infected and it started showing up on my leg, it was healed." Crestwood Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Program Director Jesse Gibson said this is what they typically treat their diabetic patients with. "So this is the hyperbaric oxygen chamber. So we'll put patients in here. They'll get it down to roughly equivalent to about two or two and a half atmospheres of pressure, which is about 33 to 45 feet below sea level. They'll bring 100% oxygen at that depth for roughly 90 minutes."
The most important thing is when you notice something wrong with your body..."...it's really important to seek treatment right away just to reduce that risk of any any amputation or hospitalization. We aim to keep everybody out of the hospital here. It's unfortunate that some of the patients that we see on their initial visit have waited too long, and they do have to go see, you know, emergency treatment because of that," said Gibson.