A newly released 43-minute documentary film, Brain Storm: Oxygen Under Pressure, illustrates the benefits of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) for traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, and the accompanying symptoms that follow their service-related injuries. The film won the Reelshow International monthly film competition in May, and can be viewed online in its entirety.
AAHF board member Paul Harch, MD, received a call in mid-May from US Army veteran John Salcedo, who had a difficult time returning from the Iraq War. John recovered with the help of the Veterans Affairs Administration, became active in veterans’ advocacy in Los Angeles, and enrolled in film school at L.A. City College. John decided his graduation project would be a documentary about veterans’ post-deployment health problems.
John interviewed Dr. Harch for the film to provide hope to injured veterans. He also discussed Dr. Harch’s treatment and its results with the wife of one of the injured veterans being treated by Dr. Harch. John included video of testimony before the House Armed Services Committee in which Congressman Walter Jones, who represents part of North Carolina where Camp LeJeune is located, interrogated Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Mullen and Marine Corps Commandant General Conway about the failure of the military to provide hyperbaric oxygen therapy to brain-injured soldiers.
Please urge your elected officials to overcome the bureaucratic obstacles to treating our injured veterans with an already-proven therapy. Last September, the House of Representatives Defense Appropriations bill funded the AAHF-sponsored Department of Defense–Brain Injury Rescue & Rehabilitation Project. This university-supervised HBOT 1.5 study will start the randomized-controlled study of 100 veterans with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). $1.5 million will only pay for 50 veterans to be treated, but is an important start. It must now be supported in the US Senate and signed by the President.
AAHF has issued an Action Alert about hyperbaric oxygen therapy for our returning brain-injured soldiers. Please write Congress TODAY and ask them to sustain this study through Conference and to increase funding.