Helping to reach the 5,000 HBO treatment at the Sandhills Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine are Mitchell Elvis, left, and Willie Ratliff. Surrounding them are the center’s staff, from left: Dr. Charlita Mangrum, medical director; Hazel Seibles, program director; Carol Heaton, HBO tech and safety director; Peggy Treadaway, administrative assistant; Angela Peek, clinical coordinator; and Amy McClain, CNA. Not shown are Dr. Alan Coulson and Dr. Venkata Mannava.

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The Sandhills Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine has 5,000 reasons to celebrate.

On June 24, the center, which was the first of its kind in this region, reached its 5,000 HBO (hyperbaric oxygen) treatment.

Patients who qualify for HBO therapy experience faster wound healing as they breathe in 100 percent oxygen under pressure in a hyperbaric chamber. On average, a healthy person breathes 21 percent oxygen in a normal environment. While breathing 100 percent oxygen in the chamber, the patient’s blood, platelets and tissues are forced to over-saturate with oxygen thereby accelerating the healing process.

The wound care center houses two hyperbaric chambers and the record-setting patients who were numbers 4,999 and 5,000 were Willie Ratliff and Mitchell Elvis. Since they both “dive” or go into the chamber at the same time, there’s no distinction as to who was actually No. 5000.

And for them, it doesn’t really matter. They are simply happy to be experiencing superior results from their treatments.

Ratliff, who came to Hamlet from another wound care facility, is being treated for a failed flap from a below-the-knee amputation.

“This really works,” said Linda Ratliff, Willie Ratliff’s wife, of the HBO treatments. “It’s amazing to see. You have to see it with your own eyes to believe it. These are some amazing folks here. They take their jobs seriously and help us a whole lot.”

Elvis, who is being treated for a diabetic ulcer, described the experience as a “thrill,” as he joked around with the staff.

“This is a goal I was pushing to achieve,” said Carol Heaton, certified HBO tech and safety director, of reaching the 5,000 mark. “We started at the end of 2006 and typically each patient receives 30 treatments, which is about six weeks.”

Heaton said her new goal is to accomplish the next 5,000 treatments in three years. The potential is here in this county, she said, but there are still a lot of people who don’t have the knowledge of what the wound care center does.

“We won’t take you away from your primary care doctor,” Heaton said. “We treat your wound – only your wound. If you have a wound that has not healed, come see us.”

“What a remarkable achievement from being the first wound care center in Richmond County and now reaching this milestone of 5,000 HBO dives,” said Dr. Charlita Mangrum, wound care center medical director.

The wound care center’s current success rate as of press-time was 100 percent with an average of 28 days to heal, said Hazel Seibles, program director. The benchmark is 88 percent, as set by Diversified Clinical Services, the largest wound care company in the world that also sets the standard in this specialty.

The wound care center is owned by Sandhills Regional Medical Center and managed by Diversified Clinical Services.

“Our success rate is incredible,” Mangrum said.

“From the front door to the back, I give tribute to the dedication of our entire staff for what we have been able to accomplish here,” Seibles said.

For more information about the Sandhills Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, call (910) 205-1525.