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Welcome
to
AIHUM Antilles Institute for Hyperbaric and Undersea Medicine Founded on Sint Eustatius, Netherlands-Antilles (Dutch Caribbean)
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Historical
Event: Subaquatic Medicine and
Cardiology --
April 1 - 7, 2007
Participating Organizations:
ECHO -- stichting Educatie Cardiologische Hyperbare- en
Onderwatergeeskunde
Antilles Institute for Hyperbaric and Undersea Medicine
The Foundation and Its Mission
AIHUM was incorporated
as an internationally governed nonprofit foundation in the
Netherlands-Antilles in February, 2005. The home of AIHUM is Sint
Eustatius, part of the Windward Island Group of the
Netherlands-Antilles. Sint Eustatius sits majestically in the
northeastern Caribbean amidst the Leeward Island chain of the Lesser
Antilles.
The mission of AIHUM is the improvement of health and personal safety on local and international levels through the interrelated processes of education, the promotion of health care, and research in the realm of undersea and hyperbaric medicine and its chief clinical instrument, hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
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Educational Heritage:
Programs of Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine Central
to the mission of AIHUM are the Programs of Undersea and Hyperbaric
Medicine. The original function of the programs was to supplement
medical education. Broadening of the programs permitted
increased accessibility of training to an
eclectic student body seeking early clinical experience. Gradually, the
programs evolved to offer elective rotations to students enrolled in
medical schools in the industrialized world. Alternatively, persons
from a variety of medical and nonmedical professional fields seek to
expand their horizons through studies in undersea and hyperbaric
medicine with options for distance learning being available.
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Educational Initiatives
in Health and Safety
AIHUM
is developing diverse educational programs designed to augment health
and safety in the northeastern Caribbean. Special projects will involve
the education of professional fishermen whose current aquatic practices
render them vulnerable to life-threatening decompression illness.
Courses will also be offered to medical and other emergency personnel
related to the recognition and management of decompression illness
arising in either recreational or professional divers. The primary
objectives stemming from these initiatives are diminishing the
incidence and reducing severity of decompression illness within the
region.
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Clinical
Diversification
The
traditional clinical realm of the precursors to AIHUM was the treatment
of decompression illness among tourists and natives to the region. Of
much greater concern from the perspective of public health, however, is
the fact that diabetes is rampant within the Caribbean basin. Common
manifestations of the disease involve the insidious destruction of
nerves and small blood vessels (frequently affecting the extremities).
Almost inevitably, the condition progresses to involve the expression
of large, non-healing (problem) wounds that often prompt a series of
surgical interventions with amputation. In selected cases of problem
wounds, hyperbaric oxygen promotes structural remodeling of the
affected area, culminating in the regrowth of blood vessels and
subsequent healing. Judiciously applied, hyperbaric oxygen can
dramatically improve outcomes and reduce health care costs.
Facilitating access to hyperbaric oxygen therapy is thus prominent
among the regional objectives of AIHUM.
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Contact
Us: