PORT JEFFERSON, NY – Mather Hospital’s Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) unit was launched 30 years ago today, the first such unit on Long Island and the only one in Suffolk County available for emergencies 24/7.
The unit treats a wide range of conditions that respond to intense oxygenation, saving sight, limbs and lives. Staffed by critical care nurses, the unit has hyperbaric physicians representing family practice, internal medicine, emergency medicine, pulmonology and cardiology.
“Thank you and congratulations to all of our current team and all of those who have helped to get us where we are today,’ said Joseph C. White, MD, Director of Hyperbaric Medicine at Mather. “We have changed medicine on Long Island by bringing a service that did not exist and may never have come to our Island…Hopefully, we will continue to serve the community for at least another 30 years!”
Long called upon to treat divers with decompression sickness or “the bends” HBOT is now used to treat a variety of medical conditions including carbon monoxide poisoning; non-healing wounds, especially in diabetics; and soft tissue injury or infection due to radiation. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy also helps to preserve skin grafts and flaps, and most recently has been shown to be effective in treating patients with sudden blindness due to retinal artery occlusion. More information at www.matherhospital.org/care-treatment/hyperbaric-oxygen-therapy-unit
About Mather Hospital
Mather Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community teaching hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of high-quality health care services to Suffolk County residents, showing compassion, respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. Mather received the highest five-star rating for 2023 from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for outcomes, patient experience and process and has earned the prestigious Magnet® recognition three times from the American Nurses Credentialing Center, which recognizes healthcare organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice. The hospital was rated high performing by U.S. News & World Report 2023-2024 Best Hospitals rankings in gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, orthopedics, pulmonology and lung surgery, heart failure, and kidney failure. Mather also was named one of America’s 250 best hospitals for 2023 and 2024 by Healthgrades and received the Healthgrades 2023 and 2024 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ for the fourth consecutive year. The hospital earned its 20th top “A” grade for patient safety from The Leapfrog Group for the spring 2024 rating period. Our Graduate Medical Education program prepares physicians for future careers through Internal Medicine, Transitional Year, Diagnostic Radiology, Interventional Radiology, and Psychiatry residency programs and gastroenterology and hematology/oncology fellowships. For information about Mather Hospital, visit matherhospital.org or follow us @MatherHospital on Facebook.
About Northwell Health
Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 21 hospitals, about 900 outpatient facilities and more than 12,000 affiliated physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 85,000 employees – 18,900 nurses and 4,900 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners – are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.