The passage of NC Senate Bill 442 recognizes hyperbaric oxygen therapy as a practical treatment solution for PTSD in veterans. Senate Bill 442 appropriates $150,000 from the North Carolina state budget to assist in connecting veterans with hyperbaric oxygen therapies. It took years of lobbying from advocates to get to this point, with research showing that receiving oxygen under pressure in a hyperbaric chamber is a powerful way to reduce the effects of PTSD and other traumatic brain injuries that combat soldiers face.
“You expose the body to pure oxygen, cells begin a natural regeneration process,” said State Senator Don Davis. “There’s this kind of natural healing that begins to occur.” Congress could soon follow suit — N.C. Representative Greg Murphy has put forth a bill that would look to make the treatment available to veterans across the country. “Although these brave service members survived the terror of battle, all too often they don’t survive the torment of their own thoughts at home and tragically take their own lives,” Murphy said.
Advocates are hopeful that this initial funding with NC Senate Bill 442 will show such positive results, that North Carolina could eventually make hyperbaric treatment available to all North Carolina veterans who need it.
“With the success of this, we want to continue to expand it out and help more and more veterans,” Davis said.
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