BY KAREN BOSSICK

They look like space helmets. They force oxygen into patients’ lungs that are too damaged to function normally but don’t require intubation.

And, consequently, these hyperbaric oxygen hoodies are in high demand as hospitals scramble to make sure they have enough ventilators for the surge of patients expected as states reach their peak number of COVID-19 patients.

Phil Rainey donated ten of these hyperbaric oxygen helmets through his Hyperbaric Health and Wellness Foundation to St. Luke’s after Hailey resident Lynn Campion facilitated the donation. The helmets are being sent to Boise where St. Luke’s is treating many of the most critical COVID-19 patients.

“The hoods are in high demand because they can replace a ventilator. But they’re hard to get,” said Rainey, who owns Hyperbarics of Sun Valley.

Rainey and other hyperbaric practitioners use the hoods in hyperbaric chambers to deliver oxygen to patients being treated for the bends from scuba diving, infections and wounds that won’t heal and other health issues.

Rainey said the hoods fit in between oxygen masks and ventilation machines used for the most critically ill COVID-19 patients.

“They work better than the masks because the masks leak and pose a bigger chance of exposure to health care workers,” he said.

The hoods, in contrast, fit over the patient’s head and seal around the neck so whatever the patient breathes out goes out an exhaust hose from the hood into a filtering system. There’s no opportunity for the breath to leak into the room.

The hoods are cheaper than ventilators and more comfortable for those patients who can use them instead of a ventilator. What’s more, Rainey said, they dissolve oxygen into the plasma.

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment was used by Orville Cunningham in Lawrence, Kan., to treat victims of the Spanish influenza in 1921. He treated a patient in a bluish cyanotic state who was not expected to live and three days later the patient was released. Cummins treated others as the epidemic raged on. But he was not able to make a big dent in the population as his was the only chamber in the country.

Sea-Long Medical System in Waxahachie, Texas, is the only company in the United States that has FDA approval to make the hoods. It has been flooded with requests from hospitals across the world as the need for ventilators rises.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the company of eight employees received 50 orders a week. Now, a single country has ordered 20,000 helmets. In response, they hope to be able to produce 5,000 helmets a week.