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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The mechanisms underlying the protective effects of hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) therapy on traumatic brain injury (TBI) are unclear. TBI initiates a neuroinflammatory cascade characterized by activation of microglia and increased production of proinflammatory cytokines. In this study, we attempted to ascertain whether the occurrence of neuroinflammation exhibited during TBI can be reduced by HBO. TBI was produced by the fluid percussion technique in rats. HBO (100% O2 at 2.0 absolute atmospheres) was then used at 1 h (HBO I) or 8 h (HBO II) after TBI. Neurobehavior was evaluated by the inclined plane test on the 72 h after TBI and then the rats were killed. The infarction area was evaluated by Triphenyltetrazolium chloride. Immunofluorescence staining was used to evaluate neuronal apoptosis (TUNEL + NeuN), microglial cell aggregation count (OX42 + DAPI), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) expression in microglia cell (OX42 + TNF-α). The maximum grasp angle in the inclined plane test and cerebral infarction of the rats after TBI were significantly attenuated by HBO therapy regardless of whether the rats were treated with HBO 1 or 8 h after TBI compared with the controls. TBI-induced microglial activation, TNF-α expression, and neuronal apoptosis were also significantly reduced by HBO therapy. Our results demonstrate that treatment of TBI during the acute phase of injury can attenuate microgliosis and proinflammatory cytokine TNF-α expression resulting in a neuroprotective effect. Even treating TBI with HBO after 8 h had a therapeutic effect.
