The Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) receives considerable public criticism for its failure to provide service dogs to Veterans with PTSD and TBI.
As reported earlier by SFTT, the VA provides service dogs to blind Veterans, but has balked at providing service dogs to Veterans who are less than totally physically disabled. The recurring argument from VA spokespeople is that there is a lack of “clinical evidence” to support the benefits of service dogs.
Continue Reading →
As we reported earlier, Veteran Eric Bivins committed suicide after being unable to find the support and care he needed from the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”).
Found below are a moving – AND MOST SAD – series of videos by Kimi Bivins, Eric’s spouse which describes her experiences with the VA in attempting to find the proper care for her husband.
Kimi’s experiences with the VA are not dissimilar from my own and countless of others who have ...
Continue Reading →
Grady Birdsong, a USMC Veteran from Vietnam, has co-authored a book with Col. Robert Fisher (USMC – Ret) that deals with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (“HBOT”) entitled “The Miracle Workers of South Boulder Road: Healing the Signature Wounds of War.”
The book is a 2016 Best Book Awards finalist and details how HBOT helps reverse the damage of traumatic brain injury. In a must-hear ...
Continue Reading →Veterans and casual observers continue to be mystified why the Department of Veterans Affairs (the “VA”) continues to insist on failed therapy programs to treat Veterans with PTSD.
Dr. David Cifu, the senior TBI specialist in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Health Administration, argues that Veterans treated with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Prolonged Exposure Therapy are receiving the best therapy possible to treat PTSD. There is no reliable third-party verification to support Dr. Cifu’s bold assertion.
More to the point, Dr. Cifu dismisses ...
Continue Reading →While many families will be celebrating Easter today, I am quite sure that their thoughts will turn to a family member or friend who were among the 52,000 that died of a drug overdose last year.
By comparison, there were only 33,000 traffic fatalities over the same period. These statistics suggest that substance abuse plays a far greater threat to our society than careless driving.
In an excellent 5-part series by FOX News entitled “Drugged, Inside the Opioid Crisis,” the network ...
Continue Reading →Stand for the Troops (“SFTT”) has written extensively about treating Veterans with PTSD and TBI. Sadly, much of the publically available literature for brain-related injuries deals with identifying the symptoms and helping Veterans – and their loved ones – cope with terrible consequences of living with PTSD and TBI.
The issue(s) – at least in my mind – are these:
– Is treating the behavioral symptoms of PTSD and TBI enough for Veterans?
– Have we given up hope in helping Veterans ...
Continue Reading →Well over a year ago, Dr. Paul Harch, one of the leading experts in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (“HBOT”) published an authoritative report entitled “Hyperbaric oxygen in chronic traumatic brain injury: oxygen, pressure and gene therapy” for the U.S. National Library of Medicine (Medical Gas Research).
In this report (a lengthy extract is printed below), Dr. Harch argues persuasively over the many benefits ...
Continue Reading →