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YEAR BOOK |
Bandon Hyperbaric Oxygen Centre
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Bandon Hyperbaric Oxygen Centre
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History of BHOC
Bandon Hyperbaric Oxygen Centre (B.H.O.C.) is a project initiated by a local Bandon multiple sclerosis sufferer, Liam Deasy. As a result of his visits to oxygen chambers in Britain Liam noticed significant improvements in his symptoms, which improved his quality of life. With help from a small group of volunteers back in 1997, a committee set about fundraising, the aim being to provide a Hyperbaric Chamber in Liam's home town of Bandon in Co. Cork.
What is Hyperbaric Medicine?
Hyperbaric medicine is a specialised therapy which has evolved over the years to treat diverse ailments. The principle of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy is as follows: body tissue deprived of oxygen will eventually die if oxygen is not restored to generate the healing process; oxygen is the body's natural healer. Tissue can be deprived of oxygen for a whole plethora of reasons; severe injury, burns, after effects of skin-grafting and certain types of surgery.
Hyperbaric pressure is based on the theory of allowing the body to heal through flooding cells with pure oxygen, which rushes to an area of injury. It is accepted that the compressed oxygen chamber halves the time of healing an injury. An oxygen chamber is believed to relieve and sometimes cure distressing symptoms which accompany conditions caused by lack of oxygen to the brain. Treatment works by administering oxygen under intense (hyperbaric) pressure. Among medical experts working in the aviation, space and diving sectors, it is believed to have a more expansive therapeutic role beyond curing decompression sickness for divers � its original purpose.
Success has been achieved in treating motor-neurological conditions associated with the temporary lack of oxygen to the brain. These range from multiple sclerosis to strokes and cerebral palsy. Multiple sclerosis and stroke victims may suffer loss of limb movement or may have their speech or coordination severely compromised; this is directly attributable to an area of the brain being deprived of oxygen which causes brain tissue to die. Dead tissue cannot be revived, however, dying tissue can be recovered with startling success by delivering oxygen to the effected area. The only known method of achieving this function is to place the patient in a pressurised chamber. The patient then breathes 100% oxygen under these conditions. The effect of a pressurised environment in the chamber is to dissolve oxygen in high dosage in the blood plasma. Oxygen is then delivered around the body via the enriched plasma.
Oxygen treatment is also believed to be effective with skin complaints, notably severe ulceration, following an amputation or operation as well as burn injuries and skin graft healing.
A session or "dive" takes an hour and 20 minutes with treatment regimes prescribed for specific conditions. For example, a multiple sclerosis sufferer will usually have twenty sessions followed by a weekly top up session.
Application forms are available at the centre or by downloading from www.bhoc.ie
Contact: R.V. Murphy, Administrator,
BHOC c/o Town Hall, Bandon, Co.Cork;
Tel: + 353 23 43677; Fax: +353 23 42276;
Email: [email protected] ; Web: www.bhoc.ie