Doctors, community leaders and county residents gathered at the Scotland County Wound Healing Center to gush over the new facility.

"I am just very impressed with the wound center," said Allen McLaurin, chairman of the Laurinburg-Scotland County Area Chamber of Commerce. "We are very fortunate for all the great things going on in health care."

McLaurin added that this is good for the community considering the shape of the economy.

Some viewed the hyperbaric chambers – complete with TVs, DVD players and sound systems for patients who are "diving." Others munched on hors devours provided by the hospital's catering service while talking to doctors about the wound healing process.

The center is doing well after being open just 18 days, according to Paula Davis, Wound Center director.

"We are growing very rapidly," Davis said. "We currently have over 35 patients."

This includes three hyperbaric patients who visit the center two or three times a week.

"We've got great support from local physicians," Davis said.

Many of the center's patients were referred by local physicians for open wounds that had not healed.

"We are in the business of healing wounds," Davis said. "We are bringing specialized medicine into a smaller community."

She said the center uses best practices for the state-of-the art wound healing process.

"We utilize a methodology with an impressive record of healing wounds that others thought hopeless. After performing a full diagnosis on a patient's first visit, we take photographs of the wound at each subsequent visit to evaluate the therapy's progress. Our treatments are evidence based and best practice driven, meaning our patients do not undergo any treatment or progress to a new level of treatment until the need is clearly indicated."

Davis said she saw chronic, lingering wounds first hand.

"I know my grandfather had leg ulcers he had to live with everyday," Davis said.

Now, with the wound center, people don't just have to live with open wounds.

The director added that these wounds are more than just a discomfort – they can have a real affect on people's health.

"When you have an open wound, you can have an infection," Davis said.

Infection can cause further discomfort or develop into other ailments. It can even lead to amputation, according to Davis.

Davis said likely candidates for treatment are those suffering from diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers, infections, compromised skin grafts and flaps, and wounds that haven't healed within 30 days. The center's hyperbaric oxygen chambers can also be used to treat patients suffering from less common ailments as cyanide poisoning, gangrene, carbon monoxide poisoning, brown recluse spider bites and the “bends,” or decompression sickness.

Scotland Memorial Hospital partnered with National Healing Corporation for the Wound Center. National Healing manages wound healing centers nationwide with an average healing rate of 80 percent attained in 12 to16 weeks of therapy. The rate of limb amputation for non-responsive wounds is less than two percent for patients treated, according to statistics from National Healing.