Matt Hamilton/Daily Citizen-NewsDr. Norman McCulloch Jr., a fellow in hyperbaric medicine at the Hamilton Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center, speaks with a patient.  

DALTON, Ga. — With a family history of diabetes, Dr. Norman McCulloch Jr. says he saw firsthand the benefits of hyperbaric treatments for his aunt and great-grandmother. McCulloch is the newest member of the medical staff at the Hamilton Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center.

McCulloch, a fellow in hyperbaric medicine, said watching his family members undergo treatments piqued his interest in hyperbaric medicine.

“I saw the benefits of it, and it really intrigued me as far as treating chronic non-healing wounds and overall morbidity that it places patients in,” he said.

“Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a painless, safe and effective medical treatment that uses pressurized oxygen to promote healing of wounds,” the Hamilton Heath Care System website states. “The patient rests comfortably in a clear, acrylic chamber while breathing 100 percent oxygen at pressures two to three times greater than the atmosphere’s normal pressure.”

A typical treatment regimen consists of 30 to 40 individual treatments, for two hours once a day for five days a week, the website states. “During the treatment, the patient will be in a clear, see-through chamber that allows for freedom of movement. Most patients watch TV, listen to music or nap during the treatment.”

McCulloch said the benefit of the treatment is that it reduces hypoxia, when the amount of oxygen reaching the body’s tissues is insufficient.

“Obviously if you have a pressurized system that you are saturated in forcing oxygen in you’re going to have a surplus of that and it’s tremendous in reducing hypoxia,” he said. “We know there are the primary effects, which is hypoxia reversal, but there are secondary effects that have been elucidated in a lot of research.”

McCulloch said those include new vascular blood vessel formation in chronic non-healing wounds.

“A majority of the time our patients already have vascular disease so it helps to actually regenerate new blood vessels,” he said, noting it also helps with combating infections.

McCulloch said he stresses to patients that the treatment only works when the other tenets of standard wound care are in place and being addressed.

McCulloch received bachelor’s and master of business administration degrees from Syracuse University and attended the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences for medical school. He completed a fellowship in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine at State University of New York Medical University and a residency in internal medicine at NYU’s Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, N.Y.

McCulloch said the adjustment to Dalton has been smooth for him and wife Roxsanne since arriving in June.

“We love it here. I think it really combines the aspect of the small community but still close enough to a large city,” he said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better situation being in Dalton because they (the Hamilton Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center) really want to expand their role of hyperbaric programming.”

He said being board certified in internal medicine places him in a good position.

“As a consultant in wound care I can address patients’ medical needs without specifically becoming their primary care provider,” he said. “I have practiced as an internist prior to undergoing a fellowship and I think the heavy diabetic population here will benefit from hyperbaric oxygen therapy.”

McCulloch said the prevalence of diabetes is on the rise.

“We continue to deal with that chronic disease as an epidemic,” he said.

McCulloch said the majority of the patients at the Hamilton Wound Care and Hyperbaric Center are diabetic foot ulcer patients.

“We also treat late effects of radiation and soft tissue radiation,” he said. “These are patients that may have had a mastectomy or something and underwent radiation treatment and now have the late effects of radiation.”

Cindy Dixon, director of Hamilton Wound and Hyperbaric Services, said the center has never had a hyperbaric specialist before.

“There are not very many of them out there,” she said. “His expertise level is higher than the training level we’ve had in the past. We expect to be able to treat patients with a broader range of disease process or illness that we may have not been able to treat effectively in the past.”

Dixon said hyperbaric medicine takes a great deal of training and patience.

“It’s not a short process, patients are in the chamber for 40 to 60 days,” she said. “They come every day because it’s not a quick fix-it type thing, you’re looking for an internal healing process.”

“We’re excited about Dr. McCulloch being here to give that expertise he got in a training facility,” Dixon said. “We’re pretty excited about having a fellow and he’s a genuinely nice guy.”

McCulloch said everyone has been accepting of him.

“I’m excited about where we can bring this program and keeping on the level with the advancements of hyperbaric medicine, and I’m excited about providing that compassionate care to our patient population,” he said.