First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden’s “Joining Forces” initiative to support and medically treat the nation’s veterans is spanning medical schools nationwide, and while LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans is among them, the initiative has been in place there for four years, thanks to Paul Harch.
The initiative, announced Jan. 11, 2012 combatted post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries, or TBI, in veterans.
Harch, clinical associate professor and director of LSUHSC New Orleans’ Hyperbaric Medicine and Wound Care Department, has been treating veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI with hyperbaric oxygen therapy, or HBOT, since 2008.
Before the First Lady announced the initiative, she requested that Harch and other collaborators submit research about PTSD and TBI treatment in veterans.
“We’ve got it. I’ve been doing it for years,” Harch responded.
The HBOT treatment increases the amount of oxygen in blood cells, which lessens the body’s inflammatory response and restores damaged cells so they may re-establish their functions, Harch said.
The results of Harch’s study were published in November in the Journal of Neurotrauma. The study showed a reduction of PTSD symptoms, as well as significant improvements in cognitive testing and quality of life, according to Harch.
Harch said he plans to extend his study of HBOT and its effect on veterans suffering from PTSD and TBI as part of this new effort.
But while Harch will continue his research, LSUHSC New Orleans, along with the other medical schools involved, will not receive additional funding.
“It will be a tall order without any funding,” Harch said.
Harch’s original study of HBOT could not be performed at LSUHSC New Orleans due to lack of funding.
Harch received $750,000 from military service organizations, veterans and other private donors to research the effects of HBOT on veterans with brain injuries. The treatment had to be performed at a private university under the LSU Institutional Review Board, which facilitates research, protects research participants and ensures studies comply with all research regulations. Funding the initiative and continuing HBOT research will require more donations, especially amid the $29 million budget cut to the LSU hospital system, Harch said.
“It’s a struggle,” Harch said.
The Association of American Medical Colleges and the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine will collaborate in this effort to create an upcoming generation of doctors, medical schools and research facilities that are committed to providing for the unique health care needs of veterans, according to Obama’s news release.
