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Atlanta Hospital News
How to Install a Hyperbaric Chamber in 10 Weeks—CRL Contracting’s Monumental Task
By Lisa Bianco
882 Words
Across from
hyperbaric oxygen treatment. Until now, no hyperbaric medicine facility of this scale existed in
Gwinnett,
especially with the clinical expertise of Dr. Richard King, HyOx’s Medical Director in Gwinnett and
its flagship
patients in Gwinnett who have wounds from infection, injury or disease, and who aren’t responding to traditional
treatment. This includes patients with chronic, non-healing diabetic lower extremity
wounds and cancer survivors with soft tissue or bone injuries from radiation therapy.”
Hyperbaric oxygen treatments provide the body with 100 percent oxygen delivered at high
pressure to enable compromised tissue to heal. Faster healing takes place because the process increases the amount of
oxygen the blood can carry—a 10 to 15-fold increase in tissue oxygen content. The hyperbaric chamber, large enough for
person to walk into, creates a level of
pressure equivalent to 45 feet below sea level. Thus, oxygen is able to dissolve into the liquid
portion of blood (plasma).
“The bottom line is that without adequate oxygen, the diseased tissues and cells starve and die. Hyperbaric oxygen
treatment enables those cells to live. That’s when healing can happen,
” Dr. King explains.
Solving a 45,000 Pound Problem
This amazing therapy is now available thanks to CRL Contracting, a medical interior contractor
that took on the monumental task of reconfiguring the medical suite and surmounting countless construction barriers to
install the hyperbaric chamber. As Sean Roach, President and CEO of
the company recounted, this process entailed not only removing the side of the building to lower
the 45,000 lb hyperbaric chamber by crane into the suite, CRL also had to shepherd the
construction through countless regulations, certifications and inspections due to the nature of hyperbaric
medicine’s use of medical gas (oxygen).
“Throughout the project’s 10-week schedule CRL managed 18 different subcontractors who completed
aspects of the job. We had riggers with cranes who lowered the chamber into the
building, along with concrete, electrical, plumbing, HVAC, glass and flooring contractors—you
name it they were there. When the wall was removed on the first floor, we had to board it up
every night to maintain the integrity of the building,” he recalls. Not to mention the fact that all of
this went on while the rest of the medical building was occupied and holding normal business
hours.
It was necessary for CRL Contracting to lower the medical suite’s floor by 3 feet to house the hyperbaric chamber
properly. Extra thick concrete was poured due to the extreme weight of the chamber. They also built mechanical
rooms to house power generators and water tanks. Oxygen storage was located outside of the building, for safety
reasons. Even so, the
company was no
stranger to the complexities of medical installations. More than ninety percent of its business is
medical installations, and CRL has a sixteen-year track record in this specialty area. He
elaborates further on the complexities involved when he says, “There are so many special
regulations with medical projects—HIPAA regulations, American Disabilities Act requirements,
State Fire Marshall standards and infection control procedures. CRL staff members have been specially trained
to do
this type of work.” CRL holds a certification issued by the American
Society of Healthcare Engineers that qualifies the company to do exactly that.
Yet, even considering the fact that CRL Contracting had done hundreds of medical installations,
the Gwinnett HyOx medical facility was something special. Roach contends, “We were honored
to be trusted by our client with a project of this complexity.” Travis Epperson is the Director of Construction for
Meadows & Ohly, the company that manages the medical suite building where
HyOx was built. Epperson also managed the architecture and engineering for the project and has
high praise for CRL Contracting’s efforts.
“They did a great job with a complicated project involving the technical and regulatory issues of medical gas, the
requirements of an oxygen system, zone alarms and multiple subcontractors. The job superintendent, Rusty Brewer,
was outstanding in how competently he managed all the vendors.
While we’ve done a great deal of work with CRL Contracting they presented the best bid in our opinion. In the
end the project came in at a good value, within budget and was built on a short schedule.” Epperson thought
fifteen weeks would have been more the norm for a company to complete the project, but CRL Contracting bid
it for ten weeks and completed itin on time.
Richard King stresses the importance of having a facility of this kind located in the community. “Patients will
travel a reasonable distance since this therapy may be their only
chance to heal, create viable tissue or bone for a surgical procedure, or even salvage a limb at risk of amputation. The
proximity of this new facility for referring physicians and its convenience to
patients is a win-win situation for the Gwinnett medical community.”
For more information about CRL Contracting contact Sean Roach at 678-546-3382, or sean@cricontracting.com. To contact the HyOx Treatment Center call 678-672-1647.
See CRL Installation Video!
