As we gather together to celebrate Memorial Day, I am struck by the outpouring of love and heartfelt admiration for the men and women in uniform – past and present – who have served our country so valiantly.
Often overlooked as we celebrate Memorial Day are the spouses, family and loved ones who continue to support Veterans and active duty personnel with debilitating injuries.
Stand for The Troops would like to ...
Continue Reading →Dr. David Shulkin continues to impress by tackling some rather entrenched “special interest” groups within the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”):
– Personnel;
– Infrastructure
Earlier this week, VA Secretary Shulkin informed a Congress that he was considering closing some 1,100 underutilized VA facilities. The Associated Press reports that:
Continue Reading →Shulkin said the VA had identified more than 430 vacant buildings and 735 that he described as underutilized, costing the federal government $25 million a year. He said ...
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 →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 →Like most everyone, the gun control debate is front and center on both sides of the political spectrum. Sadly, very few – if any – of proposed changes to existing gun control laws would have a major impact on Veteran suicides.
I recently came across an interesting article published in the Washington Post entitled “The reasons we don’t study gun violence the same way we study infections.” ...
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 ...
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 →
Stand For The Troops (“SFTT”) asks frequently what the Department of Veterans Affairs (“the VA”) has against HBOT or Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy in helping to treat Veterans with PTSD. The VA hides behind of veil of half-truths arguing that there is not enough “clinical evidence” to support HBOT.
Clearly there is and many hospitals across the United States have been treating brain trauma patients ...
Continue Reading →The gatekeepers at the Department of Veteran Affairs (the “VA”) remain intransigent in providing urgently need care to Veterans suffering from PTSD and/or TBI. Standard Operating Procedure (“SOP”) at the VA is to argue that FDA-approved clinical studies are needed to sanction treatment methods – regardless if these treatment alternatives have been used with success in many other countries for decades and, in some cases, hundreds of years.
The search to help Veterans and active duty military personnel cope with Post Traumatic Stress (“PTS” or “PTSD”) continues to attract much attention from within the scientific community and alternative medicine pundits.
It seems that almost weekly some promising new cure to treat Veterans with PTSD appears on mainstream media, with the caveat that “it will take years” to prove its efficacy. Must our Veterans wait so long?
While many doubt the efficacy of holistic medicine and practices that date back centuries in the Far ...
Continue Reading →