The Recompression Chamber Facility at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital is in the process of raising funds to upgrade and relocate the facility to make operations more professional and efficient.

Chairman of the Recompression Facility, Peter Haynes, said there was hope that the chamber could be relocated from the basement of the hospital to a larger, air conditioned space.

"We are looking to increase the chamber's size or to replace it,'' Mr. Haynes said. "There is a need for a medical chamber here. A monochamber -- a clear plexiglass chamber is needed.'' Mr. Haynes said the sophisticated model costs more to maintain than the present chamber which runs on a 20 horse power engine, has refillable air tanks and only requires one bottle of oxygen per treatment.

"The trouble with a larger chamber is that it also requires more staff to man it.'' The present chamber was set up in 1978, at a cost of $30,000, but was not commissioned until 1980.

The Island's only recompression chamber, which provides emergency hyperbaric medical treatment, usually handles only two-to-three cases a year.

Mr. Haynes described the recompression chamber as a steel cylinder-shaped container which has an inner and outer compartment. The small chamber, which resembles a giant thermos, only holds the patient and nurse or diving personal, he said.

The chamber is mostly used to treat the two types of decompression sickness.

The first, air or gas embolism, is considered the more serious of the two.

"You can get this, for example, by holding your breath when scuba diving,'' Mr. Haynes explained, "and decreasing the (water) pressure around you, for example by coming up quickly.

"But anybody who is properly trained in scuba diving, shouldn't go through this.'' He also cited medical conditions that could lead to a burst lung, like mucus in a lung or an asthmatic. "In these cases we have to get them to the chamber as soon as possible.'' The second type of decompression sickness, he said, was not as sudden. It develops after a dive when tiny bubbles of nitrogen form in the bloodstream.

Usually when a diver comes up slowly, the bubbles form in small quantities which get to the lungs and are breathed out of the body, causing no harm. It is in cases of over saturation that problems arise.

"No two decompression sicknesses are the same,'' Mr. Haynes added. "There are different symptoms for each person.'' Signs of decompression sickness, also known as the bends, appear between two to 24 hours after a dive with the most common being joint pain.

More serious cases can affect the central nervous system with feelings of tingling, numbness or paralysis. Embolism -- an obstruction of an artery or vein by a clot of blood or air -- and swelling in certain areas are two other possible effects. Going on an airplane within 24 hours of a dive may cause the bends.

In addition to decompression sickness, the chamber is also used to treat burn victims, help heal certain types of ulcers and carbon monoxide poisoning.

Mr. Haynes added that the chamber's pressurised air also blocks the formation of gangrene.

In treating dive accidents, the patient is subjected to pressure, as though being resubmerged, in order to force the nitrogen to dissolve again.

Mr. Haynes said pressurised air is pumped into the chamber while the patient breaths oxygen through a mask.

"The patient is taken down to (an equivalent of) 60 feet and left for a period of time,' he explained. "Then the patient is slowly brought up to 30 feet. Then they slowly come up to the surface at about one foot per minute, so the bubbles don't increase in size.'' "All while this is occurring, the patient's condition is being reported on.

And he or she is examined before and after the procedure.'' Each treatment lasts between five or six hours. However in one case, he said, an asthmatic patient received a 22-hour session.

But Mr. Haynes pointed out that some cases require more than one treatment in the chamber.

"Once you have been through the chamber, the symptoms can come back.

Therefore another treatment is required until either the symptoms are relieved or the symptoms become consistent -- there is no change in the patient before and after the treatment is administered.'' Looking to upgrade chamber Patients are accompanied into the chamber by a diving personnel or a nurse.

"You can take books in the chamber,'' Mr. Haynes said. "But no flammable objects are allowed. You have to take off all metal items because of static electricity.'' It takes a team of five to operate the chamber, comprised of volunteers who receive special training which certifies them to operate the device.

Mr. Haynes said all the volunteers take an eight-week course which covers all aspects of decompression sickness and gas embolism.

"They study the physics and physiology relating to diving, oxygen toxicity, cardio-pulmonary recitation (CPR), and the cases that can be treated in the chamber,'' he explained. "They also learn about the equipment, the operation of the chamber, have a practical hands-on training and a ride-training session in the chamber.'' To date, Mr. Haynes said 120 people, including Premier David Saul, have gone through the training course.

Volunteers, consisting mostly of divers, are called in to operate the chamber whenever an emergency arises.

"Thanks should go out to the volunteers and their employers who let them take time off to go run the chamber. We have been very fortunate that the employers let them take time off.'' The $30 annual course begins in March and runs every Tuesday night, at the Bermuda Sub-Aqua Club, until May. Registration takes place the first week of March.

"Usually anywhere from 15 to 28 people enrol,'' he said. "And we're getting more and more Bermudians enrolling.'' For more information about the course call 203-5725 or 295-2286. Donations to the Bermuda Recompression Chamber Facility can be sent to P.O Box HM 942, Hamilton.