Push to fund oxygen therapy
Tokoroa man trumpets wider use of treatment after wife’s stroke.
Meet the Tokoroa man who has installed a hyperbaric chamber at home to help his wife’s recovery from a stroke.
Ian Stewart is championing the use of a treatment involving pressurised oxygen by calling for better access and funding for an increased number of treatments.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), a treatment developed for diving disorders such as decompression sickness, is available in New Zealand through the Canterbury and Waitemata¯ district health boards.
Patients lie inside a pressurised chamber and breathe pure oxygen.
In a pressurised environment your lungs can take in more oxygen than would be possible at normal air pressure, which stimulates healing.
Funding is available to patients suffering from a handful of conditions including non-healing diabetic wounds and carbon monoxide poisoning.
Stewart spent $45,000 on a chamber for his wife Robin after she suffered a severe stroke five and a half years ago.
She had previously tried other treatments, including a round of Etanercept injections in the United States but saw only slight improvements.
The first significant improvement Robin had was when she tried a round of oxygen therapy with Health Evolution, a private clinic in Paraparaumu.
After a month’s worth of treatment, Ian decided to buy his own chamber for Robin at their home, ordering a top of the line model from Korea that allows patients to inhale 27 per cent oxygen.
Robin had since regained some movement on her left side, her husband said.
“She’s still got limited use of her left-hand side but she is able to use that hand to do lots of things. Previously, it was useless.”
The couple now had people coming around most days to use the chamber for conditions ranging from non-healing wounds, to depression or concussion.
A majority paid a “modest” fee — $60 to $80 per session. Many were referred to them by Health Evolution — the private clinic in Paraparaumu where the Stewarts were introduced to the treatment. Stewart said it was disappointing the treatment was not publicly funded for a greater scope of medical ailments. Dr Richard Medlicott, the medical director at the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners, said experience with
HWatch the video at nzherald.co.nz HBOT at the GP level was limited, but he knew it had been very successful in alleviating various conditions.
“Healing requires oxygen, and sometimes for various reasons we just can’t get enough oxygen to the tissues where it’s needed,” Medlicott said.
It was important to note HBOT was not a magic fix to any condition, but Medlicott said having a bit more information out in the public and in medical circles wouldn’t go amiss.
“I think it’s reasonable to say it would be good to have a little bit more awareness that it’s out there.”
A Ministry of Health spokesperson said DHB-funded HBOT treatment was available to patients suffering conditions included on a list created by the Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society in the United States.
“If a condition is not listed in the UHMS treatment indications, it means that there isn’t an internationally recognised evidence base of clinical benefit that is sufficient,” they said.
Hayley Brown, of Health Evolution, said her clinic predominantly treated patients for concussions and traumatic brain injuries — two conditions for which HBOT was not accessible through ACC funding.
Health Evolution sold a range of hyperbaric chambers and had links with other private clinics or providers such as Stewart, around the country.
Brown said some patients who could be referred for DHB-funded HBOT were not being referred because of a lack of understanding in mainstream health services about the benefits of HBOT.