Hyperbaric Center

We are Advanced Hyperbarics, using the latest technology and employing Hospital Standard Care.

You Deserve Effective Treatment

Our chambers are energized with 100% pure Oxygen which is directed through multiple manifolds and check valve pressure systems for patient comfort and safety. (Other systems use compressed room air supplied from an air compressor which is only 15-20% oxygen.)

You Deserve Comfort

Our patented chambers are exclusively designed with the patient in mind. There is an unexpected amount of room in the chamber for you, thanks to its modern design. This is ideal for patients that have had extremity, facial, torso, or back surgery. The chamber has proven comfortable time and again, but you may be asking, What about patients who are…CLAUSTOPHOBIC?

We have good news for you. HBOT IS possible!:

- We are Masters at helping those who are borderline, or full on claustrophobic.

- 5 large windows give you an almost 360 degree view of the center.

- No Masks or hoods allow for freedom of movement and full body oxygenation.

- A Certified Hyperbaric Technician (CHT) is within sight at all times, and is in contact with you by way of visual and audio systems.

- For added convenience, you can watch a movie on the provided flat screen Tv, or listen to your favorite music and focus on healing. Trust us, you won’t even know where the time went.

You Deserve Safety

Our Monoplace (single patient) hyperbaric chambers are “Hard” chambers; the same equipment used in hospitals, and is a patented PVHO, approved by ASME and the FDA as a medical device which is made from medical grade stainless steel and oxygen cleaned parts.

• Our Certified Hyperbaric Technologists (CHT’s) are educated in Hyperbaric Medicine, have completed a long Internship, and have experience in the Hyperbaric field. Our CHT’s are certified nationally to be able to work in any hospital Hyperbaric program and are also licensed through the chamber manufacturer here in the state of California.

You Deserve Peace of Mind

Patient Privacy is paramount. Each & every employee at Hyperbaric Recovery and Rejuvenation Center signs a detailed Disclosure and Confidentiality statement agreeing not to disclose any patient information to anyone, for any reason, unless directed by the patient. We follow closely the standards set out by HIPPA.

• HR&R staff is empathetic to patient’s health crises, challenges, limitations, and needs because we started out as patients ourselves and believe in hyperbarics and the healing process.

SAVE MONEY! Our fees, on an average, are 60-75% lower than a hospital hyperbaric treatment. Our therapy sessions cost about what most people pay for their hospital deductible for one hyperbaric session. The savings is passed on to the patients so they can afford more hyperbaric therapy.

Four out of five members of the Thill family came down with Lyme Disease. It's called "California's Hidden Epidemic" , and is prevalent in 52 California counties. Lyme Disease almost always flies below the medical radar. It is not life-threatening, it brings on a multitude of symptoms that do not call for hospitalization and is treated symptomatically with a blizzard of drugs, antibiotics, intravenous boosters and supportive help. It is a persistent disease and insurance companies are reluctant to get involved.

"I couldn't comb my hair or dress myself," said Janine Marie Thill. "Nothing seamed to help. Then I heard of hyperbaric therapy. I had friends in Carlsbad near San Diego where a hyperbaric therapy center was located and had 30 days of treatment. From days of unable to function I began to feel improvement after 4 hours and by 26 hours I was almost back to my pre-Lyme condition."

Janine Thill didn’t stop there. She plunged into the world of hyperbaric therapy. She already had pre-nursing studies at Santa Rosa Junior College to provide a head start. She and her husband, Richard (he has Lyme Disease also), took out a second mortgage on their home and invested in a hyperbaric therapy center in Rohnert Park at 1370 Medical Center Drive. It wasn’t easy. Special pipes are needed for the oxygen and the "hard chamber" itself has a minimum price tag of $250,000. There are "soft chambers" utilizing oxygen masks but these have drawbacks.

Their clinic is open daily and drop-in visitors are welcome to come inside and take a look. The phone number is 584-HEAL (4325).

It's called Hyperbaric Recovery and Rejuvenation Center. The name implies it's not a cure-all and as far as the Thill knows it’s the only one north of a center at UC San Francisco.

The hyperbaric chamber itself resembles a typical CAT scan chamber. Patients are slid inside for 90-minute sessions and they can read a book or look at DVD’s while filing their lungs with pure oxygen. Richard was inside one enjoying another look at a “Star Wars” DVD.

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT) gradually increases the oxygen level above the usual 15-20 percent oxygen level found in normal air. "It goes into the red blood cells and the increased metabolism of the parasites in the red blood cells due to large amounts of oxygen causes the parasites to virtually eat themselves. They die and are evacuated through normal means" said Thill. "That's a non-scientific explanation and perhaps an oversimplification, but it's basically sound."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cautiously lists only 14 examples where HGOT is use full. Most of them are traumatic cases like exceptional blood loss, cyanide poisoning, non-healing wounds, and extensive burns.

"But HBOT has proved to be helpful in a vast number of other conditions," she said. "In Europe, Japan, and China for example, HBOT is used in 70 or 80 disorders. These include stroke, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, head injuries, autism, vascular diseases, fibromyalgia, decreased immune functions.

"Saturating the tissues with oxygen reverses hypoxia (low oxygen levels), promotes angiogenesis (growth of new vessels), decreases swelling, deactivates toxins and increases the body's ability to fight infections" Thill added.

The procedure is painless. There’s pressure on your ears at the start, much like you feel in an aircraft cabin. It gets a little warmer as the decent period starts (about 10 minuets) but soon you are at the proper depth for 60 to 90 minutes of pure oxygen, and then comes the ascent period when the air gets cooler. All of the time the patient is in constant touch with the technician at the controls.

Thill, 40, is a Certified Hyperbaric Technologist with a wall full of certificates testifying to her skills. She and the majority of the Thill family (only 16 year old Zachary doesn't have Lyme disease), have an emotional and vested interest in the war against the disease.

HBOT is not a cure-all. It’s a fairly new tool in medical treatment, and like other newly applied treatments in health, processes in Europe, Japan, and China in the use of HBOT has out-stripped progress in the United States.

"I feel I need to shout this from the rooftops" said Thill. "The process dates back to the 16th century. It's been used for years to rescue sailors from sunken Submarines. THe techniques here have furnished many of the current HBOT guidelines.

"We are just a hard working, blue collar family from Sebastopol that happens to be afflicted with Lyme disease. I want to do things here in the clinic just like they do in hospitals. It’s not a total cure but the improvements generated are quite visible".

Thill urges the use of long sleeved shirts, buttoned collars, and protective socks for wear in tick country such as Sonoma and Marin counties.

"Mendocino County is the capitol of Lyme disease on the West Coast just like Connecticut is on the East Coast". said Thill. "And just to make sure, we don't go camping anymore."