Saint Clare’s Dover Hospital’s Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine Receives UHMS Accreditation for Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Services
Dover, NJ (March 13, 2020) – Saint Clare’s Dover Hospital is pleased to announce that its Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine recently received full accreditation from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS). This accreditation is awarded to centers for meeting or exceeding highest industry standards and best practices in hyperbaric treatment. Saint Clare’s Dover Hospital’s Center of Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine is only one of the seven hospitals in New Jersey to have received accreditation status, and the third in the network of Prime Healthcare Services.
The accreditation process took approximately 10 months and is required to ensure that the highest standards of quality care are achieved. The center was surveyed by a team which examined staffing and training, equipment installation, operation and maintenance, facility and patient safety, and standard of care, finding that the center was eligible for accreditation.
“Providing quality care is a top priority for us,” said Alvena Hameed, Director of the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine. “We are very proud of receiving accreditation and we’re committed to seeing that our facility serves as an industry benchmark for high standards and exceptional care. Clinical hyperbaric facilities, such as Saint Clare’s Dover Hospital, can demonstrate their commitment to patient care and facility safety by voluntarily participating in this program.”
“Once again Saint Clare’s demonstrates its commitment to the highest standards of service in so many of its service lines. We are proud to be again considered by the highest third-party authority that our Center for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine exhibits the highest standards of care,” said Brian Finestein, CEO.
The Center has been in a partnership with Healogics, since 2012, offering the community specialized care for chronic or non-healing wounds. Healogics-managed Wound Care Centers effectively utilized HBOT and other advanced modalities to treat more than 300,000 wounds last year. HBOT is a safe and evidence-based treatment proven to speed the healing process in certain types of wounds. During the treatments, the patient breathes 100% oxygen inside a pressurized chamber, quickly increasing the concentration of oxygen in the bloodstream. The oxygen in the bloodstream is delivered to a patient’s wound site for faster healing, essentially assisting in healing the wound from the inside out. This therapy can help reduce swelling, fight infection, and build new blood vessels, ultimately producing healthy tissue. It is also effective in fighting certain types of infections, improving circulation, in stimulating growth of new blood vessels, and in treating crush injuries, osteomyelitis, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and diabetic wounds of the lower extremities.
This advanced Center houses two hyperbaric chambers and six treatment rooms and is staffed with wound and hyperbaric certified nurses and providers.
About the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine at Saint Clare’s Dover
For patients suffering from a chronic or non-healing wound, The Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine at Saint Clare’s offers relief through a comprehensive, leading-edge approach to wound management. Our expert staff employs multiple diagnostic and treatment modalities including, but not limited to: debridement, advanced wound care dressings, biological skin grafts, vacuum assisted closure therapy, compression therapy, nutritional management, management of wound pain, diabetic education, infectious disease management, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The center has received the Center of Excellence Award for the past 6 years for outstanding clinical outcomes.
About UHMS Accreditation
The UHMS began the accreditation process in 2000 due to the growth in hyperbaric medicine, and since 2001 the UHMS has had a clinical hyperbaric medicine facility accreditation program. The organization evaluates quality assurance among wound care centers using hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) nationwide. The medical industry has responded to the growing need for comprehensive wound care with new treatments and technology including the very effective adjunctive modality, HBOT.
Attached photo: Members of the Wound Care team at Saint Clare’s Dover pose with their recent recognition Left to right: Barbara Eck RN, Robyn Manente RN, Pamela Marusiak Secretary, Edward Smith LPN, Dr. Edward McManus Medical Director, Eileen Noonan Nurse Manager, Alvena Hameed Director.