VIDEO: Fire Suppression Test of USC Catalina Chamber, Avalon, California

Watch how well a multiplace fire suppression system works at 6 ATA in this fascinating video from inside the chamber at USC Catalina. From the YouTube description:

Every year the Fire Suppression system of the USC Catalina Hyperbaric Chamber is tested under pressure. Anything that we do not want to get wet is either removed or sealed in plastic. The Chamber Crew, wearing wetsuits enter and the Chamber is compressed to 165 fsw (6 ATA, 50 msw). At depth the deluge system and the fire hoses are tested. When the ascent from 165 fsw to the first decompression stop at 30 fsw begins the fog starts to roll in as the moisture condenses out of the air. The Total Decompression Time following the dive to 165 fsw for a 12 minute Bottom Time (time from start of descent to beginning of ascent) is about 33 minutes.

We wonder if any other chamber in the US or anywhere in the world goes to such depths to ensure safety. Hats off.



[Video: Luke Peterson]

Doubly Fatal Chamber Fire: One Year Later, No Answers

So where's the final report from the investigation? All the buzz in the mainstream media, on Twitter, and in the blogosphere around the anniversary date was about the impending lawsuit settlement. But what the family and the hyperbaric community really want is an answer. What went wrong? Apparently a "blast" dislodged a "tube" and caused an "explosion" or "flash fire." We reported these preliminary findings last July and haven't heard a definitive word since. Last month's video report from the Sun Sentinel doesn't much add to our understanding. How can we prevent such a tragedy from happening again? No one can assure anyone until everyone knows the facts.

[Note: The incident occurred 1 May 2009 at Ocean Hyperbaric Neurologic Center, now renamed Neubauer Hyperbaric Neurologic Center, in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, FL.]

Books: Hyperbaric Facility Safety? Check.

HBOT operators, manufacturers, and technicians should be delighted to see Hyperbaric Facility Safety (Wilbur Workman, ed, Best Publishing, 2000, 754 pgs, US$129) back in print. Flip through the table of contents on Amazon and you'll see Workman's thorough, practical approach to the subject and his appreciation for international regulations and practices. We're apt to trust the reviewers who say this primer belongs in the library of every hyperbaric unit everywhere. Order direct at www.bestpub.com or telephone +1 928 527 1055 before 31 March if you want to grab it for $99.

And speaking of safety, we've been enjoying The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right (Macmillan, 2009, 224 pgs, US$24.50), the surprise bestseller by surgeon Atul Gawande. Why did it take a MacArthur genius to come up with such basic stuff? It's a disarmingly simple idea for a complex world, and one that rings true looking back on our own experiences in medicine, pharmacy, manufacturing, communications, aviation, sailing, and information systems. Visit the author's website for bonus reviews by Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Levitt (the Freakonomics guy) plus terrific samples of actual checklists.

HCMC Chamber Reprieved By Senate Earmark

Confirmation arrives late that the US Senate's year-end spending bill, a whopping $1 trillion that barely escaped a filibuster Sunday, includes a $400,000 earmark for replacement of Hennepin County Medical Center's aging hyperbaric chamber. We'd like to think our fall coverage played a small part (but know better). Here's wishing HCMC speedy project funding and completion.

HBOT: Homeland Security Against Cyanide Terrorism

One shudders to think of it, but cyanide poison has become an all-too-imaginable weapon of terror in these troubled times. Maybe we're especially troubled, writing to you from Chicago, home of the 1982 Tylenol murders and the subway scare of 2002.

Hyperbaric oxygen may play a small but critical role in our preparedness for cyanide attacks. According to the chemical terrorism update by Coleman O. Martin, MD, in the July 2002 issue of Emergency Medicine:

Hyperbaric oxygen administration is an adjunctive therapy in patients who do not respond to cyanide antidotes. This may be particularly helpful in cases where methemoglobinemia is excessive and the patient cyanotic. Hyperbaric oxygen should also be considered in patients with cyanide toxicity from smoke inhalation because their high levels of carboxyhemoglobin can hinder safe induction of methemoglobinemia.

Of course O2.0 readers will know that HBOT is approved for treating carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning complicated by cyanide poisoning after smoke inhalation. Better homeland security provides all the more reason every fire rescue squad and trauma center in the US should have 24/7 access to emergency-ready hyperbaric oxygen chambers—plenty enough to handle large-scale disasters, whether tragic accidents or unspeakable acts.

Minnesota: HCMC Fights Back

As the mercury falls in Minnesota, so rises the battle cry to save Hennepin County Medical Center from deep budget cuts. Without swift legislative action, before March 2010, the state's only 24/7 emergency-ready hyperbaric chamber is sure to shut down. (See our October 4 story, "Embattled MN Chamber Faces Ax.")

HCMC is fighting back. Making savvy use of online social media and good old-fashioned grassroots politics, the new Will You Lose? campaign underscores the medical center's proud history and modern role in disaster preparedness and statewide emergency healthcare access, especially for the uninsured. It also offers a great way for the hyperbaric medicine community to get involved. Please join O2.0 in signing up and spreading the word.

(Pictured: Jim Harris, CHT, at the HCMC chamber controls. Photo: Jim Gehrz, Star Tribune)

Fire Safety Standards for Hyperbaric Facilities

The death of an Italian boy and his grandmother resulting from an explosion and fire at a hyperbaric facility in Florida tragically demonstrates the consequences that can result from lapses in vigilance when working with oxygen under pressure. A press release issued by a Florida law firm states that a Miami television station reported that the private hyperbaric center had unresolved safety problems. WPLB reported that there were building, fire safety, and FDA violations with the facility's oxygen tanks and hyperbaric chambers.

What are the national standards for hyperbaric chamber safety? The FDA's database of consensus standards lists the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) as the recognized source of safety standards for hyperbaric medical facilities. The relevant section is NFPA Standard 99, Health Care Facilities, Chapter 20, Hyperbaric Facilities.