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(January 26, 2016) – NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital’s Institute for Wound Care & Hyperbaric Medicine opened its doors this week to many healthcare professionals interested in learning more about the excellent care and emotional support we provide to our wound care patients.

Welcoming our guests from the VA-Montrose, VNS-Westchester, VNA-Hudson Valley, and the Dominican Sisters, as well as from area nursing homes and senior living residences, were Dr. John Ko, Dr. Hisham Hourani, Eileen Donatelli RN, BSN, CHRN, WCC, the Institute’s Coordinator, and all the team members who provide comprehensive services every day to patients with chronic wounds, within a warm and comfortable state-of-the-art facility.

“We are a team of dedicated professionals including physicians, certified wound care nurses, and hyperbaric technicians, and we utilize the most advanced healing techniques and modalities to treat patients with many different kinds of wounds,” said Dr. Ko to a gathering that included John C. Federspiel, President, and Stacey Petrower, Chief Operating Officer, NewYork-Presbyterian/Hudson Valley Hospital; Bonnie Corbett, Chief Nursing Office and Vice President of Patient Care Services, other members of NYP/Hudson Valley Hospital senior management and employees.

Susan Aubry, a long-time resident of the Peekskill/Cortlandt Manor area and a recent patient at the Institute, provided a testimonial praising how our amazing clinical team healed her wound, but of equal importance to her was the positive emotional support she was provided at every step along the way. A survivor of ovarian cancer, Susan had difficulty with an incision opening up after a second surgery in October 2015.

“I can’t brag enough about the services I received here. I received wonderful care from Dr. Ko, and especially by the nurses, Eileen Donatelli and Christine Rogers (RN, WCC), (and the PCT) Carol Morales. They are all top-notch professionals and in every way cheerleaders for my recovery. They are phenomenal.”

“At the Wound Center, I was never unsure,” continued Susan, who was a patient from November to December 2015. “They assured me from the very first time and they had an air of assurance and confidence – and they did it with love. I mean it. And that is what helped keep me going.”

“Not only did they heal my wound, they healed my soul,” she said.

To learn more about the Institute, or to make an appointment for a consultation, please call 914-734-3030. Or visit www.nyp.org/hudsonvalley.

In 2014, the Institute earned a Re-Accreditation with Distinction from the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society, the nation’s leading authority on hyperbaric medicine. Only 40 facilities in the nation and four hospitals in New York State have earned top honors from the UHMS.

Approximately five million Americans each year suffer from chronic, non-healing wounds, defined as wounds which do not heal with six to eight weeks of traditional wound care. These chronic wounds may be caused by diabetes, poor circulation, traumatic injury, and radiation therapy, among other reasons.

The benefits of hyperbaric therapy were discovered with the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge during the late 1800’s. Some workers who were divers developed “caissons disease,” better known as “the bends,” a painful, potentially fatal condition in which gas bubbles form in tissues or blood as a diver comes up to the surface from deep water. Doctors discovered that placing these divers in a high-pressure room or chamber containing pure oxygen made the gas bubbles in their blood dissolve. For the divers who also had chronic wounds, the hyperbaric treatment often helped them heal as well.