HBOT Conversations:
Elena Schertz & Tom Fox
(Part 5) – COVID
Elena Schetz, NP is the nurse practitioner, and Tom Fox is the Safety Director at Extivita-RTP. Extivita-RTP offers a positive environment for healing, and they encourage anyone seeking a better quality of life to come visit them and experience for themselves the wonder of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Watch the Podcast
In a Special 5-part series with Extivita’s Nurse Practitioner, Elena Schertz, and Safety Director, Tom Fox, we dive into the extraordinary powers of HBOT, and the healing they have witnessed for a variety of conditions. The following segments prelude this episode:
Part 1 – HBOT for PTSD (veteran focus)
Part 2 – Concussions & HBOT
Part 3 – Healing Heart Disease with HBOT
Part 4 – Cancer & Cerebral Palsy
In this final episode, we discuss COVID, and how long-haulers are finally finding relief in Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.
Host di Girolamo starts the conversation explaining that people who suffer from brain fog, oxygen shortages, and fatigue are discovering that HBOT is providing them relief. Tom chimes in that early oxygen delivery and pre-hospitalization was something the Italians saw in COVID as it progressed, and they discovered the role of HBOT in the acute care stage of COVID. The Italians witnessed patients who were heading in the wrong direction being released from the hospital after only 5 hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatments. The role of hyperbaric oxygen in COVID cases is incredible. Tom reminds us that only about 1,400 of the 6,500 hospital in the US have HBOT chambers, meaning that it is not a standard of care.
Studies out of Britain state ten HBOT treatments are ideal for COVID patients to witness a complete turn-around, and they get their lives back in two weeks. Tom explains that 40% of their patients are long-haul COVID and they’re coming to a HBOT clinic because there’s no other option. Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy DOES return a COVID patient back to their baseline.
Chronic, or long-haul COVID patients (someone who has been dealing with symptoms for months or years) will likely need more treatments, but there is still so much hope. Elena says that the long-haul COVID patients who have come to see her have all improved. Elena has seen some long-haul COVID patients get better in as little as 4 treatments, and then there are some patients who need 40 treatments. Just like how everyone responds to COVID differently, the same goes for HBOT to treat COVID. There’s no magic number; but if you get in quicker then it’s more likely you won’t need as many treatments. In the end, it’s important to simply know that HBOT hands-down does help COVID patients, and it’s worth a try.
“Elena states, “I want to say it’s kind of easily fixed, you know, the fatigue. I’ve seen it over and over again. Until somebody comes in and disputes that or I see that, then I’ll keep saying, yeah, it really is very effective. I’ve seen it 100% of the time. It really is 100%”
And then there are the vaccine injuries. Tom stresses that he believes in the power of vaccines, he his definitely not an anti-vaxxer. But, when he looks at what’s going on in the world today it’s concerning. If you were to document a vaccine injury right now, it’s almost like the kiss of death to anybody that reaches out to challenge vaccines.
“We’re downplaying the VAER system. You know, in the current vaccine, with the number of reactions that we’ve seen with the current vaccine, previous vaccines would have been taken off the market.
HBOT News appreciates Tom and Elena joining us in our Conversations podcast and invites you to check out their clinic, Extivita-RTP if you are ever in the Raleigh, NC area.
Guests
Elena Schertz, NP - Clinic Manager at Extivita RTP
Elena worked as a nurse in the pediatric oncology, cardiac, and surgical units at UNC hospitals for 15 years before deciding to work in integrative medicine. After years of working as a nurse, she decided to pursue her graduate degree, completing her masters with honors. She is board certified as a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) through the American Nurses Credentialing Center.
Elena’s passion for integrative medicine comes from her knowledge that the mind, body and psych/social/spiritual systems are not separate. The focus of Elena’s practice is to approach each of her patient’s healing process from the perspective of the whole, supported and grounded in safety and evidence-based medicine. She also maintains close consultative relationships with experts in the field to promote and enhance wellness for her patients. Elena joined the wonderful Extivita team in March 2019 and is thrilled to be a part of advancing health and wellness through hyperbaric medicine.
Thomas M. Fox, MAS,MS, CHT - Safety Director at Extivita RTP
Tom joined the Extivita team in 2022 as the Safety Director, helping Extivita to maintain a healthy and safe environment for exceptional patient care.
Extivita-RTP – Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Clinic
2012-D TW Alexander Drive
Durham, NC 27709
919-354-3775
919-354-3776
contact@extivita.org
https://www.extivita.org/
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Recent HBOT News
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Due its high incidence, mTBI and its consequences of PPCS are a major public health issue.
There is no consensus regarding the treatment of PPCS in pediatrics. Relying on its results
in adults, HBOT offers a promising new direction of treatment, which targets the basic
pathological processes responsible for post-concussion symptoms.
The effect of hyperbaric oxygen therapy in pediatric TBI has never been evaluated.
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Hyperbaric oxygen ameliorated the lesion scope and nerve function in acute spinal cord injury patients: A retrospective study.
This is a retrospective study to assess the therapeutic effect of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) in early treatment of acute spinal cord injury (SCI) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and electrophysiology in diagnosing. Forty acute SCI patients from Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hospital who were assigned into HBO treatment were included during August 2013 to October 2014.The patients with adverse reactions or contraindications for HBO were assigned as controls. Both of two groups (HBO and Control) received medicine treatment with Urbason, GM-1 and mecobalamine after surgery. ASIA and the Frankel scores were used to evaluate the therapeutic effect of HBO at the 15th and 30th day after HBO treatment by using MRI and electrophysiology features. Significant therapeutic effect of HBO treatment on acute SCI patients was observed compared with the control group (P<0.05). Comparison for ASIA and Frankel scores showed that motor and neurological functions were significantly improved in HBO group at day 15 and day 30 post treatment. MRI images showed that the grade III injury in HBO group was significant lower than the control group. In comparison with the control, the peak of somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) and motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude increased, the latency was shortened, and the conduction velocity of sensory nerve (SCV) and motor nerve (MCV) was significantly increased in the HBO group (P<0.05). HBO treatment has a great efficacy in acute SCI patients. HBO therapy at early stage of acute SCI is beneficiary to the recovery.