“The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly”
First and foremost, before I begin to dive into my experiences within the hyperbaric industry, I would like to take a little bit of time to share some areas of my pre-hyperbaric life. Don’t worry, I’m not about to bore you with my young success as a youth soccer player, or even with our annual trips to Florida as a family. On the contrary, I would like to share some of the other explored interests I traveled through on my journey to discovering the fascinating and fast moving world of hyperbaric. Further, I would like to warn the reader… this is no short bio! So before you begin digging into my personal life, get comfortable, you’re going to be here a while. But don’t worry; I make for interesting subject matter.
In the Beginning
To say the least, I have always been a sports enthusiast. Not the kind that watches football games on a Sunday afternoon, more so of the variety that would shoot hoops until the sun goes down. As a youngster, I dabbled in just about every sport that was offered through youth programs and played others like hockey on the pond across the street in the winter. Even at a young age, I loved to compete and I loved to push myself to my limits.
All the same, my passion for sports and competition has always been shared with that of the sciences. I have always been drawn to nature and have always shared a kindred spirit towards animals. When it came time in my life to start considering colleges and the career path I would choose, my first career choice was marine biology. Consequently, my senior year of high school I visited universities like Florida State and Bowling Green University that offered curriculum and degree programs in the field. Life however, throws little detours at us and reconstructive surgery from diving injuries kept me home.
Now, don’t jump to conclusions to fast; I know the logical connection is SCUBA and hyperbaric, but I am speaking about springboard and platform diving! I wasn’t formally trained from my early youth, but growing up in a house with a pool and a diving board taught me a few lessons regarding body awareness and control. Growing up, I never thought I would compete as a diver. When invited to try out my freshman year of high school, I indulged in the opportunity and quickly gravitated towards the sport. I think what I have always loved about the sport is that you have to show up and attempt new things that scare you every day. Every day was a personal triumph if I at least attempted the unknown and uncertain, regardless of the outcome and pain that may have been experienced. The sport is very akin to the Chinese proverb, “fall down seven times, stand up eight”.
Anyways, diving put undue strain on a previous shoulder injury, ultimately leading to serious reconstruction of my left shoulder. Post surgery required I be in an immobilizer for six weeks, I ended up taking what would have been my first college semester off and attended a local community college during the following winter semester.
A Brief Encounter with the NCAA
As previously stated, life throws detours and I was left to explore local programs. Although still fascinated with the world under the sea, I was quite content to simply study general sciences with a focus on biology and genetics. When the next school year arrived I transferred to Oakland University where I began taking virtually every science class I could, maybe even a few I wasn’t quite ready for. Another reason for choosing Oakland University revolved around their Swimming and Diving Program; at the time, one of the best in the nation. Having been out of the sport for a year from surgery, no scholarship opportunities were available and so I walked on to the team with high hopes. Regardless of a scholarship, I still shared in the closing moments of a sports Dynasty. At the time, Oakland University was a Division II school, and their Swimming and Diving program had won 3 consecutive national championships. I loved competing at the collegiate level; three meter springboard and platform diving add a level to the sport that any adrenaline junky will love. As it turns out, I qualified for Nationals, competed, and placed as an All American. As a team, we won the competition and as a point contributing member I became a part of the 1998 Division II Swimming and Diving National Championship Team. For anyone who has ever been a part of something great… you understand the feeling. Although I didn’t win the national championship in my own event, I was still a part of a group that shared in a great moment and triumph. It was a high moment that I will never forget and San Antonio (where the meet was held) will always bear great memories for me.
The reason for going into great depth regarding my college diving career is because the gravity of the situation left me at a crossroads. As it turned out, the school had chosen to go Division I. As a result, teams of all sports are not allowed to compete in the national tournaments or competitions for a number of years while the school adheres to Division I policies. Learning of this future change made me question if I wanted to spend nine months of the year training with no championship to compete in. Regardless of how great I could have performed in subsequent years, I wasn’t going to have an opportunity to compete and showcase my skills in National Competition; that is, if I stayed with Oakland University.
GI JOE – A Real American Hero
So here we are at a fork in the road, do I transfer to Michigan State University? After all, my high school coach dove there; they had an excellent team and their coach was the coach for the national team. Or, do I join the United States Marine Corps and play GI JOE like I wanted to ever since I was a little boy. Yes, I liked GI JOE! So much that I signed up for the Marine Corps and headed to boot camp within three weeks from obtaining medical clearance. As it turns out, it took me almost six months to get cleared to go into the Marine Corps. The surgery I underwent was their reason for denied acceptance. I had to prove to a team of doctors that I was fit and that my shoulder would not be a future liability. Six months later, I was cleared for duty and scheduled for boot camp in just 20 days.
So, off to boot camp and from boot camp, off to the School of Infantry! Yes, I chose infantry! I scored a perfect 99 on my ASVAB (military placement testing) and had a GT score that placed me into any job I could choose, including intelligence. But I guess I wasn’t that intelligent because I wanted to be Recon and the only way into Recon was through the infantry. No promises I would make it, but I had to try! You see, the school of infantry holds an indoc to determine which young marines deserve the chance to attend Amphibious Reconnaissance School; myself and one other were the only two out of more than a hundred who had passed. Subsequently, after six weeks at the school of infantry, I was off to become a Recon Marine. Ironically enough, I was dropped from the school after about 6 of 12 weeks of training. As it turns out, they don’t like people who tell the truth. At least that is my lasting impression…. We were in the land navigation portion of training and the entire class had worked together to compile a list of the landmarks/objectives that we had to find and the data that we were supposed to obtain from them. Well, somehow we were caught and everyone in the class was brought in front of the Major for questioning, one at a time. I didn’t see what the big deal is, this is recon school I thought to myself; they were supposed to be training us to sneak in behind enemy lines to acquire intel. I guess the big deal was that we got caught. They say “nothing is cheating unless you get caught, and if you get caught cheating… you weren’t cheating hard enough.” Well, as it would have it; six out of thirty in the class told the truth. Would you believe that all six of us were kicked out of ARS, fined almost $2,000, reduced in rank and then sent to an infantry platoon.
Okay, so now I’m a standard infantryman (no offense to my fellow grunts), and I am what they call an “integrity violator”. I found this ironic; after all, it was the six of us who told the truth. It would be the same as if you were going with the flow of traffic, although above the speed limit, with the flow of traffic. Only when confronted and asked if you were speeding does your integrity come into play. Until then, you are just speeding. Regardless, I was still guilty; I just find it funny that my integrity was called into question! On a positive note, it’s times like these that build character and teach us hard lessons in life and teach us to believe in ourselves and our own merit.
Anyways, any idea of me becoming a “Lifer” (someone who makes a career out the military) was fast dissolving. This was not to say that I didn’t still work hard to become an elite soldier… because I did! I bounced back fast. I received a meritorious promotion, quickly earning my rank back and was able to qualify to try out for the Battalion Sniper Platoon. In the end, this is where I really wanted to be; I was just going the recon route to accomplish it. Thankfully, I found the back door and my military career was back on track.
While in the military, I traveled quite a bit and spent a lot of time in the field. Staying healthy and strong is always a concern when you travel and spend long durations in the wilderness. As a result, a growing interest of mine was that of health, fitness and healing. I wanted to be at my best all the time, I wanted to be the proverbial “All that I could be” even though that was an Army slogan. I became expressly interested in the areas of complementary and alternative medicine, supplementation, physical fitness and the powers of the mind. When I had free time, researching these areas consumed it.
During my last year in the Marine Corps, I was stationed in Okinawa. Here I became friends with a Navy Corpsman who shared many of my same passions for health and fitness. He was training to become a Navy Seal, so you can only imagine how serious being in peak physical condition meant to him. At the time, he was studying fitness training and introduced me to ACE (American Council on Exercise), one of three Nationally Accredited Personal Trainer programs. I found the material interesting, wasn’t planning on becoming a trainer, but I found it interesting and decided to take the six month home study program. As it turns out, this would come in handy a few years later.
New beginnings after the Marine Corps
In March of 2002, I was Honorably Discharged from the Marine Corps. I went home and quickly picked up my college career where I left off; except this time, I decided I wanted to study Botany and Horticulture. This was an extension of my passion for human potential, natural living, and natural healing. I wanted to learn more about herbs, about nature, and how to live off of and cultivate the land. I didn’t just want to be able to know the names of herbs and their actions; I wanted to be able to identify them, to grow them, to harvest them, and to extract them. Meanwhile, I was working in a health food store in the supplement section; basically spending my days reading labels, researching products on the internet, and reading through their massive library of books on supplements and alternative medicine. But it wasn’t until I had attended a two day meditative retreat that things started happening really fast for me! Yes, I had been all over the world, experienced highs and lows of great proportion and yet I wouldn’t say that I knew what true passion was.
Something happened during that retreat that was like a light bulb turning on. I had this deep experience that few of us are truly living to the potential that lie within, including myself. I wanted to unlock that potential, and I wanted to create a roadmap for others to unlock theirs. I don’t recall sleeping for about three nights when this happened. I wrote almost a hundred pages during this three day sleepless marathon and set myself up for a journey of experiences. If you hadn’t figured it out… I was working on a book! Not only would the book share my theories of achieving and unlocking our latent potential, it would share with the reader various fields and theories in the arena of alternative medicine. In order to write about these arts, I embarked on a journey to study and experience them all. I would seek out practitioners, undergo council, and experience a full course of treatment. I would combine my experience with a one on one interview and a thorough study of the history and theory of the art and science. I would then compile an essay of the history, benefits, what to expect, and the science of these various arts and traditions. I believe that it was this process that has given me gift to see things from different angles where others are left with tunnel vision.
Back to the Corps
Just as I was starting to get in the groove and my hair was getting long, I was recalled to the Marine Corps for a minimum of one year and a haircut. For those of you who don’t know, when you join the armed forces, you don’t just sign up for active duty. You sign up for an equal amount of inactive duty. Inactive duty is different from being in the reserves; you have no responsibilities, unless you are called back. This is our way of no longer having a draft. They can call back everyone who has been discharged in the last four years. Here is the kicker, on the 365th day of your forth year out, you can be recalled for up to two years; and if I can recall correctly, that was really small print.
Why was I recalled, because this was exactly the time when things started getting really serious in Iraq. If you are trying to place the events that were going on while I was in the Corps, I will spare you the trouble. I was active during the Kosovo conflict and during the height of Afghanistan. However, I was fortunate to never have been in harm’s way. When the World Trade Center was attacked, I was in Japan, actually Okinawa. Yes, it was frightening being in the Military witnessing one of your nation’s landmarks destroyed, but I was always fortunate to be in a safe place. As it turns out, my unit was the closest unit to Guam! Guam, a United States territory, has both a Navy and an Air force base located on it. Word around camp was that nuclear weapons were housed there and our unit was called to provide additional base security. Although we were on high alert and it was 110 plus degrees every day, I know what we were experiencing was nothing compared to the Marines who were actively chasing terrorist groups throughout Afghanistan.
Of course inactive marines rarely go overseas. Instead, we are recalled to provide base security as active marines and reservists are sent to carry out missions overseas. So here I am, back in Camp Lejeune, NC. I had just begun a journey exploring new passions and now I’m serving the role of a Military Police officer. Although base security does not share the same honor as those who serve overseas, I was still proud to offer my service. Reluctantly, my assignment permitted me to continue to work on my book and new found passion. During my downtime, I sought out local experts to study them and their approach towards health and healing; sometimes I would drive as much as two hours for appointments. Although being recalled interrupted my university studies, it was nice to get out of the cold of Michigan winter and back into the South for some warm weather. Besides, I made good use of my time and when it was all said and done, they released us from duty after only six months.
Okay, so back home I go, back to school for third time! Like I said previously, life has a funny way of putting detours along our paths. If you are wondering when I am going to make a mention of hyperbaric, don’t worry, were almost there.
My First Hyperbaric Experience
As part of my exploration in healing modalities, I had come across a chiropractor that I had chosen to stay with for my own personal care. I suppose if anyone wanted to go back in time, to remove me from the hyperbaric industry (because I am such a pest), then this would be the time to do it. Dr. G as we will call him, kept a portable mild hyperbaric chamber in his office. He didn’t offer the therapy; he simply kept a unit in his office for his own personal use. Dr. G was a marathon runner, and a pretty good one too from what I could gather. He would often run in the morning or afternoon and would jump in the chamber for an hour or so before once again working with clients. He wasn’t treating a specific condition; on the contrary, he was very healthy and used the chamber to assist with recovery from his rigorous training. As things would have it, the door to the room that housed his small chamber was left open, allowing me a peak at the curious device. Of course, my curiosity could only inquire. Dr. G then went on to inform me that it was his hyperbaric chamber and that he used it to help with his training. I asked him how it worked, and he gave a pretty brief explanation in regards to how “he believed” the therapy worked and benefited him. Looking back, I think he may have been misinformed, although I believe the device still benefited him, just not in the manner he was claiming it to. Regardless, I asked if he would mind if I gave it a try sometime. Being the kind gentleman he was, he was happy to oblige me, especially as he was aware of my passion for human potential and my aspirations to publish the book I was working on.
The next day (if my memory serves me well), I came back and gave the unit a try! People are always curious to find out how I got into hyperbaric, especially those not in the industry and those who are completely unaware of what it is. After all, wouldn’t you be curious how someone became so passionate about something you‘ve never heard of? I suppose you could say the proof was in the pudding? I don’t even know what that phrase means, but if you replace pudding with chamber, then it can make a lot of sense. Within minutes of being in the chamber, I felt a calming come over my body. If you are high strung like I am, you notice when you’re not! I spent the remainder of the session simply focusing on my breathing and trying not to fall asleep. Tired or not, I found it very relaxing and would have had no problem falling asleep had I only let myself. Regardless of falling asleep though, the hour long session went incredibly fast. Before I knew, Dr. G was coming in to depressurize the chamber and let me out. Upon depressurization and the chamber being opened, I popped out my head and torso and took a breath good ‘ol normobaric ambient air. My first thought upon taking that initial breathe, “This is what I’m normally breathing, put me back in, I like it in there more”. Of course, everything I experienced could very well have been a placebo effect. However, with the little information that I had to go on from Dr. G., I’m sure little placebo was at place. Regardless, even if it were placebo, I was sold! All I could say was that I felt good, alive, and refreshed! That night, I slept better than I could remember in a long time, and consequently I woke up feeling great! I attributed this great night of sleep to the extra oxygen I must have soaked up in the chamber and thought, “I have got to get me one of those machines”.
Sadly, when I started looking at the cost of these mild hyperbaric chambers, I found that they were way outside of my price range, beginning at more than $10,000. Being that I didn’t suffer from any specific condition and that I simply wanted the machine to experiment with and add to an arsenal of human potential enhancing practices, I couldn’t even begin to justify the expense. But that didn’t mean I didn’t still want one, and it certainly didn’t mean I was done looking into the therapy.
Around the same time frame, I also began to take a shift in career path. After interviewing so many practitioners, I began to realize that I too wanted to work with people. So, from plants to people I went. I decided to actually take the certification exam for the American Council on Exercise that I had begun studying for almost two years previous. In fact, I bought a new book because I was afraid that some of the information may have changed. After brushing up for a couple of months, I took the exam and passed with flying colors.
Meanwhile, my humble beginnings as a business person began out of my parent’s basement. Yes, I was 26 years old and living with my parents. Cut me slack! I was a college student, researching and writing a book, and trying to make ends meet! I will note the GI Bill helped tremendously with my tuition and that living at home kept my expenses to a minimum. Allowing me a lot of free time to explore my interests and focus on my studies.
Humble Beginnings
My first company was simply a name to do business under. I began a small online store selling supplements (never really sold much), and I offered personal training to a few clients out of my humble training facility in my parents basement. It wasn’t long before I realized that I wanted a bigger venue and I applied for a job at LIFETIME Fitness. For those of you not familiar with LIFETIME Fitness, they are one of those gigantic fitness centers that have everything (swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts, racquetball courts, and of course weight training and cardio equipment). It was a great place to work out of because I had everything at my disposal.
LIFETIME also helped me further my education as a fitness professional. As a company, LIFETIME required that their trainers all hold two National Certifications. Basically, upon being hired, a new trainer had six months to acquire a second certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM).
Just prior to beginning a new career at LIFETIME I transferred into a Clinical Massage Therapy program at the community college. The Massage Therapy program was a 90 + credit program, however, being that I already had a lot of my sciences and prerequisites completed, I was going to be able to complete it in just two years with the second year being a lighter credit load of just advanced massage therapy classes.
I worked at LIFETIME for about one year before I decided to open my own private facility. It had always been a plan to open my own facility; I don’t like to be bossed around too much and corporate America has little appeal to me. Anyways, I was finishing up the Massage Therapy program and began building a clientele of Personal Training clients. Things were great, I had just purchased a new home, I had my own business, my relationship with my family was better than ever (now that I was out of my parents house) and I was about to get a mild hyperbaric chamber. That’s right; I was ready to make the plunge! Actually, a friend of mine turned me onto somebody who was looking to sell their chamber used. As it turned out, I would be the third owner, but I got a great deal at only $2,500.
Pandora’s Box
I was so excited, yet I didn’t even know what I was getting myself into. Little did I know that this little OxyHealth Solace 210 that I purchased would be the equivalent of my own little Pandora’s box. I quickly began using the chamber at home; sadly, I never even bothered to keep track of the number of sessions I had done. I just remember that I would get in anytime I could, sometimes a few days would pass, while other times I would spend the entire night in the chamber. Looking back, I realize what a newbie I was to the industry. I knew so little in regards to what I had and what I was doing. In some ways, my ignorance was only to my benefit. Had I known then what I know now, a lot of things would probably be different. I would have never begun offering the therapy to my friends and clients. I probably would have never sought to become a reseller of hyperbaric equipment. Likely, I would have kept it for my own use and just wrote about it and moved on. On the contrary, I didn’t know how political the industry was, nor that the device I had purchased was a class II medical device and required a prescriptions from a licensed physician. However, my ignorance left me with no fear of ugly politics and red tape. Why didn’t I know these things? The simple answer, because I had no mentor. In fact, all I had to my disposal was a bunch of conflicting information. Information placed into an industry from those who either don’t truly understand what a portable mild hyperbaric chamber is, and/or those who are trying to keep the industry to themselves. Elitist we will call them. Regardless, I was the blind leading the blind.
On a side note, I was also involved with far infrared saunas, low level lasers, inversion therapy equipment, ozonation systems, and a plethora of supplement companies. Alongside my growing passion for hyperbaric, I saw these other healing devices as other potential avenues for helping individuals unlock their latent potential. I was also very interested in clean living; clean air, clean water, and organic food. I had such interests in clean air and water that I decided to become a water quality specialist through the Water Quality Association. I acquired all of their training materials and various devices and kits for testing air and water quality. I tell you this, because you need to understand that although I was interested in hyperbaric therapy, I was truly interested in natural health, healing, and human potential. I wanted to provide education and products to go along with the education to help others achieve a greater quality of life. I wasn’t a hyperbaric specialist by any means and I wasn’t focusing on hyperbaric as the core of my business. Fact is, close friends and family encouraged me to focus on other areas I had previously mentioned. They felt that people understood those things, but as they could not fully grasp the concept of hyperbaric, they felt the consumer market wouldn’t either. In reality, it was my poor ability to harness the essence of hyperbaric into laymen’s terms. Nobody wanted the thirty minute explanation; they wanted the thirty second explanation, the classic “elevator speech”. Funny, I still can’t sum up hyperbaric in thirty seconds!
Personal Sacrifice in Business
About a year later, I had finished the associates’ degree program in massage therapy and I decided to take a giant leap. I committed to opening a retail location in which I would offer all of these items and anything else that I might come across that fit well with my product mix. The store was called “BodySpecific”, the same name as that of what I had been doing personal training under. Regardless of almost six months of developing my business plan and having believed I thought of everything, right off the bat, things didn’t go the way I had hoped. I had all my ducks in a row, or so I thought! I signed the lease a day prior to signing my business loan documents, only to find out the bank had modified the term of the loan amount from $70,000 to $40,000. Regardless of the changes, I signed the loan; after all, I just signed a two year lease and I needed the money. Sadly, the other $30,000 was to be marketing dollars and cash flow during my initial opening months. Consequently, I ended up putting a lot of money on credit cards and acquiring some extra cash through refinancing my home. I was determined to make it work, and to a certain extent I did. Sadly, the process cost me about another $60,000 that I borrowed from friends and family in amounts from $5,000 to $15,000. After having the doors open for about a year and having expenses of almost $13,000 per month, things got so bad that I was forced to file personal bankruptcy. Yes, personal bankruptcy! I still believed in the business, things were coming around and although my expenses were high; I was just about to the point where I wasn’t going to need to inject money into the business every month. Still, something had to give, and it was my personal life and credit rating that made the sacrifice to keep the business afloat. In summary, my house was foreclosed on, my truck was repossessed, and my credit still hasn’t fully recovered. The bankruptcy relieved me of all of my credit card debt and that of my home, but I still owed friends and family, and as of the writing of this in December of 2010, I am still paying back some of that debt almost three years later!
Looking back, I wouldn’t have done things any different. I am happy where I am today and changing one single aspect of my history could change everything. I see the struggles and adversity that have challenged me as positive and character building. I remember taking a small business class at the community college and the professor’s entire agenda was to convince students not to go into business. The statistics are startling; In fact, the majority of people who go into business for themselves only lose their life savings. This professor believed that the true business people would still forgo their adventures; however, if he could scare the rest into a less risky career, he felt he was doing his job as a small business professor.
Okay, back to the hyperbaric stuff. Ironically, when I opened my retail location I had to let all of my personal training clients know that I would no longer be training and they could no longer use other services that I offered such as the infrared sauna. I still wasn’t offering hyperbaric at this time so nobody was overly upset about that. Although they were disheartened by my decision, they respected my desire to place undivided focus into my new adventure. Ironically because many people that came into the shop would ask if there was any place that they could try the sauna and/or the hyperbaric chambers. It was like I transported into an opposite universe. When I was offering all of the services, none of my clients were really interested; then when I stopped offering the services and moved into sales, everyone wanted to experience the devices. Having both a Sauna and a mild hyperbaric chamber on the store floor always peaked people’s interest. I didn’t see putting a person into the sauna as very professional, they would be sweating, and with no shower or privacy, it just didn’t seem prudent. But letting prospective customers try the two mild hyperbaric chambers seemed perfectly logical. After all, you would get in with your clothes on! Would you believe that in a year of being open and having the chambers on my showroom floor that I didn’t sell a single unit? Granted, I wasn’t solely focusing on selling hyperbaric chambers, but not a single unit! On the contrary, as soon as I let someone use the chamber, although reluctant at first, it wasn’t long before we had 1-3 people coming in to do sessions every day. Although we were only charging $30, about a third of what others charged, it still added up to almost a $1000 a month; a very nice addition to cash flow when bankruptcy was just around the corner.
A Little Self Incrimination
Now, I am going to say something very self incriminating; we weren’t asking for prescriptions from those who were coming in to do therapy. Fact is, nobody ever told me it was necessary. All I had ever known was how safe the therapy was, how simple it was to administer it, and how easy the chamber was to operate. All we had was a simple waiver that hadn’t even been reviewed by an attorney. Please, don’t take this the wrong way! I am simply making a case for the lack of mentoring that we have in this industry. I have worked with three manufacturers of mild hyperbaric chambers and not a single one of them has ever provided any material in regards to who the device can legally be sold to or administered to. No statements in regards to the types of physicians that are licensed to prescribe the devices and nothing in regards to specific state laws in which the therapy is outside of a specific professional’s scope of practice. Fact is, almost eight years later, I am still compiling this information.
When I purchased my first chamber, used if you will recall, nobody asked me for a prescription then. When I purchased my second unit from a manufacturer, once again no prescription was required nor was I advised in regards to the distribution of the device or therapy publicly. So then why would I ever think that a prescription was required? It certainly wasn’t made apparent by those who should have been mentoring me.
One last note… Sadly, I’m not alone in regards to my actions and the manner that I had operated my clinic in its early days. Even today there are numerous facilities that market mild hyperbaric therapy that are not within the full legal boundaries of the law. Is it because of me? Certainly not, every professional I sell a chamber to I advise to contact state authorities and/or licensing boards in order to determine their legal boundaries. However, I feel that I may be alone in this approach! How do we change this? Simple, with an attitude that these facilities and individuals aren’t bad people and places, only misguided? Making personal attacks such as reporting people or making slanderous claims on the internet is not the answer. The answer is mentoring! My point is this, if you are out there reading this and have a high disapproval for the actions of others in the industry; instead of burning bridges, try building them instead.
Opening a Wellness Center
Okay, back to the story at hand. As I started to see revenue come in and a demand for services such as the chambers and the sauna, I thought, wouldn’t it be great to combine the potential of sales with that of service. It just so happened that an adjacent suite in the business complex was opening up and it was going to be the perfect place to open my new Wellness Center. I still had about a year of lease left on the current location and I signed a one year contract for the other at a rate of only $1,000 per month. This new space wasn’t going to cost me much in equipment or furnishings, only the additional overhead by way of utilities and the lease contract. Right away I knew the decision to open the center was the right one; and it wasn’t long before I realized the necessity for the showroom was no necessity at all. We were able to showcase the products in a more “user friendly” manner, allowing customers to try before they buy.
The Wellness Center was a hit! We offered mild hyperbaric therapy (of course), infrared sauna therapy, massage therapy, chiropractic care, personal training, and nutritional counseling. In addition, we also offered a number of tools and products for transforming the home and office into healthier environments. Although when we opened we were attempting to offer the complete package, I soon found that you can either be a “jack of all trades and master of nothing” or become an expert in one thing. I’m sure that you can only assume that I chose to make that one thing hyperbaric. Fact is, over the years I have explored so many areas of health and healing. I have completed a number of certifications, degree programs, and spent countless hours in private study. Yet, the one field of study that even to this day I do not bore of is hyperbaric. Eight years later and I still enjoy learning about hyperbaric in all realms. In fact, the deeper I dig, the more I learn how much more there is to discover. In other words, every answer only leads to more questions!
Passion and Propaganda
It has been this continuous passion that has kept hyperbaric on my horizon. Further, the answers aren’t out in plain sight in an easy to decipher format. You have to read between lines. You have to feed through all of the misinformation that has been put into the industry by “so called” professionals who never thought to validate the information they were taught. This struggle to make sense of what is true, what is propaganda, what is bad science, and what is good information has made for an interesting journey; one I continue down every day. One of my visions for the industry would be for those coming in to receive the mentoring that I never did, for them to receive information that is not propaganda rather based on science, research, and historical fact. Another vision that I have is for everyone to play nice! Currently, the largest enemy of the hyperbaric industry is the hyperbaric industry itself. It isn’t the drug companies holding us back; it is inner squabbles between individuals and organizations that stand with polar opposite beliefs about the therapy and the industry. These polar opposite beliefs and the agendas behind them are the thing mostly responsible for the plethora of misinformation; each opposing side makes up blatant lies about the other, leaving the rest of us in the middle to sort out their mess. The reality is, very few people in this industry are willing to be open minded, are unwilling to have a calm open debate about their conflicting view, and are unwilling to try and understand their opponents point of view.
Bias, To Be or Not To Be…
Of course, many would say my bias lies with the mild hyperbaric community. On the contrary, I see hyperbaric as an extremely broad field with in which we have only begun to understand the mysteries and potential of. I acknowledge that some conditions require great depths of pressure; yet I also have seen compelling research demonstrating low pressures to be equally as effective as higher pressures in specific conditions. Will you see me writing more about mild hyperbaric therapy and speaking more about portable hyperbaric chambers? For the time being yes, because that is what I consider my expertise. Forgive me for not wanting to speak out of turn about areas of the industry that I have many rocks to still turnover. Two years ago I attended a UHMS approved course to become a Certified Hyperbaric Technician. This 5 day course is the same course that MD’s, RN’s, CHT’s, and diving medics take for their certification (everybody takes the same class). What I learned brought no contradiction to my beliefs of the industry, yet it opened my eyes to the importance of safety and clinical practice when working with deeper pressures and a few areas of concern in regards to safety of mild hyperbaric chambers. It also gave me great historical perspective in regards to the industry and has allowed me to piece together some interesting observations of how we approach hyperbaric vs. how I believe we should begin to approach hyperbaric. However, the dogma that is taught is exactly that, dogma. It is as if it was gospel truth and is to never be questioned. Questions are exactly what we need. Science and medicine have come so far in the last half a century, yet the hyperbaric industry as a whole has hardly evolved their belief system since its most recent modern inception almost fifty years ago. In summary, if I have a bias, it would be towards those in the industry who are open minded and willing to discuss an imperfect medical approach. Forgive me if I put little value into statements from those who lack the ability to accept criticism or are unwilling to fathom the idea that there is room in the industry for low pressure hyperbaric therapy.
Birth of our Online Hyperbaric Directory
I really began to see the politics and the bullheaded actions of many within the industry when we launched the National Hyperbaric Directory. The idea for the directory came from our own personal struggle to market our small facility. Countless times we would hear that we needed to market more; more specifically, that we were hard to find on the internet. I thought, I do all kinds of internet marketing, but I must not be in the places where people are looking. As a result, I began searching for my company online as if I were a local individual searching for a facility that offered hyperbaric or mild hyperbaric. What I found was that my Wellness Center was nowhere to be found, at least not on the first few pages of search results. Instead, hospitals that wouldn’t treat off label conditions and non-local facilities that had a large web presence came up. In addition, a bunch of manufacturer and equipment reseller pages polluted the results. Of course, some of these facilities have spent thousands of dollars to obtain their dominant web presence, but that doesn’t mean they are relevant to the vast majority of searches they appear in. When someone searches for hyperbaric or hyperbaric providers, shouldn’t a directory of providers be the first link on search engines like Google and Yahoo when they do so? Answer, of course one should. Hence, the directory was born.
Our Directory was unique; we actually listed both mild portable chamber facilities and those that offered a more clinical application with hard chambers. Surprisingly, we were hung up on more than one occasion while making calls to verify contact information. Amazingly, some people in this industry would rather not be on our directory simply because we are listing mild hyperbaric chambers; I have even been told it was criminal. Seriously, we were just trying to build a directory with what people like you and me are looking for. Regardless of whether you think a mild hyperbaric chamber has the same place in the industry as a hard chamber is inconsequential to the fact that they are both hyperbaric treatments. Yes, a mild chamber is a lower pressure, but increased pressure is hyperbaric, regardless of how little the increase. Of course, if these zealots had it their way, we would either list the mild hyperbaric chambers on a completely different site and not link to it, or simply not list them at all. This is exactly the elitist mindset that I had referenced earlier.
Of note should be that we actually called about a thousand facilities verifying the information that we put in our directory. What I am saying is that my staff and I have had the privilege of hearing some amazing testimony from clinics on both sides of the spectrum. Of course and as previously mentioned, not all encounters were neither of the utmost professionalism nor of a positive nature. However, their negative comments and blasphemous claims were silenced by the support of the many.
My History in Portable Hyperbaric Chamber Sales
I will come back to discuss the directory further; however, I would like to speak about one of the areas that seems to be everyone’s concern, at least that of my critics. What I am referring to is my involvement in the sales of portable hyperbaric chambers. Yes, I sell portable hyperbaric chambers and I have been attempting to do so for almost six years. I say attempting because it wasn’t until only three years ago that I sold my first chamber. Until then, my experience in the industry was predominantly through renting portable chambers and through working with individuals through our wellness center.
Over the past few years I have sold and owned chambers from all three major manufacturers of portable hyperbaric equipment: OxyHealth, Performance Hyperbarics, and Summit to Sea. Of course, the first company that I worked with was OxyHealth. In some ways, you could say they were my mentor. When I first started looking into purchasing a chamber and selling equipment, OxyHealth was the only option on the market. So, my first chamber was of course an OxyHealth (used as previously mentioned). My second chamber (new) was an OxyHealth, and also my third and forth units that I was renting out. Having purchased three chambers from the company made me a fully fledged reseller, at least I thought. Two years later, I was sent a formal notice from their attorneys to cease and desist using their name in marketing, stating I was not an authorized reseller nor was I ever. I’ll admit, I never signed a formal contract with the company; but I certainly was purchasing chambers at wholesale and was under the presumption I was a reseller. I guess the verbal handshake is not as binding as they say!
Before my splitting from OxyHealth however, I had a vision of offering multiple brands of hyperbaric chambers. I thought that the new chambers coming into the market had unique qualities, yet I also felt that OxyHealth offered a product that had been tried and tested. I ended up taking a leap of faith and purchased a Double Bag chamber from Performance Hyperbarics. At first, it was culture shock to operate and get into. After all, the only chambers I had ever really worked with were OxyHealth chambers and their three units at the time had no buckles in addition to a few other specific differences. Soon enough though, Performance Hyperbarics offered a second chamber which was what I would consider a “mock” of the OxyHealth design (I’m quite positive OxyHealth feels the same). I never purchased one myself, however I sold a couple to some local offices and set them up. Three years later, those chambers are still in operation with little hassle to their owners.
Now, I had told you of my vision to offer multiple chambers. I can only assume that OxyHealth did not want that to be the case. On the contrary, Performance Hyperbarics had no issue with me displaying their product online on the same page as an OxyHealth chamber, but not vice versa. At first, OxyHealth did not want pricing displayed (I can only assume because their unit was priced about 40% more than the mock chamber from Performance Hyperbarics). Next, I was no longer authorized to list their chambers with competitors on the same website. As a result, I built separate websites to highlight the different products. Finally, it became us or them. I fought this for almost a year before I was sent the cease and desist emails. Let’s put it this way, I have never wanted anything more than to work with everyone, remember my statement of “everyone playing nice”.
From an outsider looking in, I felt this was no different than Sony vs. Samsung. Let’s face it, you can walk into any Best Buy and competing products are featured side by side. In some cases, one brand is far more expensive than another, despite having similar specifications. Why should hyperbaric chambers be any different? I can only assume our good friend “fear” is responsible. From what I can gather, OxyHealth was afraid that I was trying to “bait and switch”; that is, I was driving traffic using their name and then selling a competitors chamber. What they didn’t know, was that I really wasn’t selling too many chambers to begin with. When I was given the “cease and desist” I don’t recall having even sold five chambers in total, OxyHealth and Performance Hyperbarics combined. In fact, it came at a time when I probably would have begun to sell more of their chambers.
Of course, the whole story is always important. Something I was not aware of was the degree of disdain OxyHealth had for Performance Hyperbarics. You can see the evidence in the judgment they received against Performance Hyperbarics in the sum of over $6,000,000. Sadly, not knowing the extent to which these two manufacturers were battling, I found myself in quite a political triangle. Conveniently, it was at this time that I took a second leap of faith and purchased a chamber from Summit to Sea. I had purchased their 28” unit that retailed for half of what the 27” unit from OxyHealth did. After getting some hands on with this unit and setting it up side by side with my other chambers, I soon found myself working with only one manufacturer.
Today, I still work with Summit to Sea. Performance Hyperbarics has been through a few pitfalls over the last few years and are the center of a lot of controversy. Despite the controversy, they make a solid product that has proven to have merit in the industry. I no longer represent the Performance Hyperbarics product, now Pressure Tech, because I don’t want to be in the middle of all of the politics (more in the next section). The biggest area of confusion seems to stem from their willingness to provide a chamber along with an upgrade kit, allowing the chamber to pressurize to pressures of 1.5 ATA or greater. Now, the FDA has never approved any portable chamber from any of these three companies for 1.5 ATA. Word on the street is that it is illegal to sell this kit and operate a chamber with a modification to it. However, there are those in the industry that feel the end user can modify their chamber and that it is perfectly legal as long as the modification kit is obtained from a different company than the manufacturer of the chamber.
Some more Self Incrimination
Okay, time to self incriminate again! Did I sell a few chambers that were outfitted to 1.5 ATA? Yes, guilty! But once again, let’s look at my mentors, mostly manufacturers. You would think that the manufacturer of medical equipment would not mislead nor misrepresent to their resellers, right? Who knows! After all, this practice continues today and the legalities of mild hyperbaric sales are grey if nothing else. What I do know is that it seems apparent that upgrade kits for portable chambers in the United States are a liability and should anyone wish to modify their chamber, they should speak to someone else. Although I know that chambers from all three manufacturers have been modified by end users to greater pressures, no company is more known for this activity than Performance Hyperbarics. Performance Hyperbarics was formally run by Spencer Feldman, a formal sales rep for OxyHealth who partnered up with Pressure Tech and ANDI International to offer the Flexilite and Ultralite chambers. With no need to start name calling, it can simply be stated that Spencer’s actions were less than sustainable; meaning, you can’t operate a business in the manner he was and expect to maintain long term relationships or develop comradery from others in the industry. Due to legal issues and assumingly other catalysts, Spencer Feldman is no longer in partnership with Pressure Tech and ANDI who manufactured the chambers and other accessory items. It was through Spencer Feldman that I sold a couple of chambers; however, that relationship didn’t last very long. Almost a year later, Ed Betts of Pressure Tech called to touch base and discuss returning as a reseller for their product. It was nice to hear from Ed as I only recall having good educational discussions with him. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an educational call; it was a call to discuss potential future business together. With all of the press regarding the upgrade kits for their chambers, floating articles regarding FDA inspections, and the injunction from OxyHealth, I had to ask some hard questions before I would even consider re-associating myself with their product. One area of my concern was the legality of selling the 1.5 ATA upgrade kits. Unfortunately, I didn’t receive what I would consider a very straightforward answer. In fact, I wasn’t given any legalities, only an explanation of how he is a controlling member of different companies and that when he manufactures the chamber he is wearing one “hat”, and when he manufactures the upgrade kit with another company, he is wearing another “hat”. If you ask me, the hat doesn’t change the person. But who am I to say, certainly not an expert on the law! Do I think that there may be a loop hole and that modifying chambers may be legal in some instances by certain individuals? Yes, but I’m not sure what those instances are. All I know is that from the time when this conversation took place (2009) to the date of this writing (December 15th, 2010), the answer of legality remains unclear. For some in the industry, this is not a problem; however, my family means too much to risk the association with something as controversial as portable hyperbaric chamber pressure upgrade kits. For that reason alone, I shy away from that practice and the sales of these kits.
Does that mean I’m not willing to get controversial? Certainly not, because I’m not afraid to name names. Further, I understand that my public display regarding my interactions within the industry may earn me some hardship. However, I know that what I have written is the best account I can give. Note to those mentioned: If you feel I have misrepresented a historical event; please, contact me direct so that I can be enlightened in regards to the true occurrence. I will be more than glad to bite my tongue and rewrite history!
So Who Do I Represent?
One would think I solely represent Summit to Sea chambers. However, this is not entirely true. Although I don’t work directly with the other manufacturers, my company also sells used chambers and I still have two OxyHealth chambers that I rent out from month to month. I will stand by the engineering of any of these three companies’ chambers; you just won’t see me working directly with two of them. Honestly, I wish that could change. I wish the industry wasn’t as political as it is and a guy like me who believes in the products and companies could represent more than one of them. Sadly, as of this writing, that is not the case.
Back to the Wellness Center
I had the center open for about two years when my wife and I had our daughter Kaeley. Life was great, but busy. In fact, life became so hectic that the directory we began went virtually untouched for almost a year. Sadly, I only worked a few miles away and days would pass in which I didn’t see my baby girl the entire day. I would be gone before she awoke, home after she fell asleep, and home for lunch during a nap. Finally, we decided that something had to change if we were going to accomplish the goals we had previously set for ourselves and our family. It seemed that with the business growing and our family growing as well, one of them had to give! Consequently, we figured out a way to let them both grow, but it meant closing the Wellness Center. I didn’t sleep that night; instead, I was up studying our finances, crunching numbers on a Spreadsheet and planning out our new business plans. That morning when my wife awoke I informed her of what I had been calculating all night; she supported my decision 100%. That day I made our staff aware and we spent the next six weeks fulfilling contracts with patients and making our closing arrangements. Getting out of the lease was no issue as we had been in a month to month arrangement since the end of our first year. Looking back, I miss working with people one on one. However, closing the center and choosing to work from home was the best business decision I had ever made.
Although the center was in the black (meaning it was profitable), it demanded my everyday attention. If I could have afforded to pay someone to run the place, I would have. Unfortunately it was this day to day attention that kept me from my family and kept me from working on a book, kept me from furthering my education, and kept us from growing our directory (something both my wife and I were very passionate about when we started it). So we closed the center and put our focus solely into the hyperbaric industry. Granted, we would no longer be offering treatment, but we felt we could better support the industry through sales and through promoting other facilities via our directory.
As things would have it, I found myself in the hyperbaric industry. Prior, I was really in the Health and Wellness Industry offering hyperbaric services. Now, my sole focus had become this industry and helping it grow. I believe so much in the therapy as a whole that I want hyperbaric to become a household term. Today, when you say hyperbaric, most people either don’t have a clue what it means or they believe that it is only for very specific conditions. On the other hand, many others are starting to get it. Still, not a week goes by that someone doesn’t refer to hyperbaric as hyperbolic or bariatric.
Back To The Directory…
In March of this last year, 2010, we decided to start placing focus back into our directory. In fact, we set a deadline to get the directory to a representable state for the 7th International Symposium for Hyperbaric Oxygenation. This symposium is a gathering of physicians from all over the world sharing the latest research and theories regarding the industry. I was planning on attending, but now we were also planning on exhibiting.
July quickly came and with it the Symposium. I am very pleased to say that we were welcomed quite well by those who attended the symposium. Although we did run into a few bad apples while making our phone calls to verify locations and contact information, we certainly didn’t see them at the symposium. I can only assume two things from this; either they didn’t attend because they already “know it all”, or they didn’t have the courage to come and speak to us face to face. In either case, it shows you the caliber and character of the so called “elitist”.
In the subsequent months, the directory has continued to grow in both membership and traffic. In fact, just recently a nameless individual calling themselves DrHBOT personally attacked the directory and my integrity as a business person. Of course, this individual has taken great lengths to hide their identity, so nobody really knows what their true agenda is. Although it was disappointing to have someone publicly attempt to defame me and one of my businesses, it really only pointed to the fact that our directory was accomplishing the goal we had set out to accomplish; although we weren’t #1 on Google, our site was obviously becoming visible and getting noticed. Sure, there are going to be those in the industry that don’t want hyperbaric and mild hyperbaric facilities to become so publicly visible; my response to them… deal with it, because it is happening!
In the end, the slanderous claims sent to our clientele through this notorious individual only brought support and sympathy from our valued clients. Further, it sparked a new desire to make my companies so well known and publicized that just maybe these “nay sayers” would spontaneous combust due to inner frustration.
The Birth of a Blogger
I had been planning on beginning a blog and a vlog for some time, dare I say a couple of years! I guess I just needed to be insulted one good time. I think for too long I was afraid to just come out and say what I had brewing up my head, to share my experiences, and publicly confront the entire industry. I guess I was just afraid that everyone wouldn’t like me. Truth is, everybody isn’t going to like me and I’m okay with that, because I know that there are a lot of people that need and want to hear what I have to say. By not telling my story and sharing my experiences and insight into this industry is a disservice and an injustice and what the “elitist” want. Sure, DrHBOT was the first, but they won’t be the last nor do I feel I have heard the last from them. Fact is, you can’t even hold the highest position in this country (president) without at least 40% of the population disliking you. Simply stated, if you want to have your voice be heard, you have to accept that some people won’t be happy with what you have to say and you have to know that you aren’t speaking your voice for them, rather for those who want to hear it. With that last statement, I would like to invite you to share your own voice. If you have an experience in the hyperbaric industry that you would like to share, please post a comment regarding your experience and knowledge under the post “Calling all Hyperbaric Warriors” and welcome others the opportunity to comment on it.
Closing Thoughts
I didn’t take the time to write these eighteen pages in hopes that you would like me. Okay, maybe I want you to like me a little. Never mind, I want you to like me. At least I want you to click the like button located in the left of my blog. That aside, liking me wasn’t the primary aim of this bio. Its purpose was to share with you my background and some personal experiences and the thoughts and emotions accompanying them that have shaped my life and lead me to where I am today. As the opening posts of this Blog states, “Why should you care what I have to say until you know who I am”.
Am I a doctor or licensed physician of any kind? No, but I have taken virtually every class that would constitute a pre medicine degree. I may not have letters after my name; however, my entire life I have always sought to understand not just memorize. I am the person who asked questions and always annoyed the class. Why, because I didn’t just want information, I wanted the derivation of the information. I wanted whatever I was learning to have meaning and to fit into a larger picture. Note to physicians: The preceding statement is not to alienate or discredit you in any way. I respect anyone who has made such a great commitment to medicine and education. My aim is only for the reader to know that I have a very thorough understanding of anatomy, physiology, biology, chemistry, physics, kinesiology, mathematics and statistics, and many other areas of science.
Am I perfect? No, but I did watch Mr. Perfect wrestle when I was younger. On the contrary, I am not hiding behind a mask. I am here for everyone to see. Dr HBOT isn’t the only individual who makes slanderous claims in this industry from an alias name. We also have HBOT Truth and The HBOT Police. Don’t get me wrong, some of what they have to say holds some merit, but their cowardly approach leaves a hidden agenda to be discovered. Just know that a lie has speed, but the truth has endurance. Not just in this industry, but in all aspects of life do we see this political strategy to discredit individuals and confuse the public. Just look at how our public officials campaign for office.
Do I have a hidden agenda? No, I just shared all of my ventures, associations, and past associations. What am I trying to hide? Sure, I wanna make a buck; I want to make a million of them. If you can’t forgive me for being an entrepreneur who wishes to continue to grow and expand into an industry… TOUGH, because I will! Some people will say that the whole aim of my blog will be to sell chambers. What they don’t realize is that I am marketing for the entire industry as a whole. There are a lot of other resellers of hyperbaric equipment and a lot of facilities that people could visit. Should purchasing portable hyperbaric chamber be the right decision supported via a licensed physician, then yes, I hope my company gets the sale.
Do I think I’m funny? Yes, but you might not think so! I also think that I am a good Father, a great family man, an accomplished athlete, and a successful business person. So what, that is not why you are reading this! Maybe you think those are admirable traits, but you are reading because you have an expressed interest in hyperbaric. Knowing this, please forgive my lengthy bio and know that future posts will not be about me; rather hyperbaric. You’ve earned it, that is if you actually read this far.
See you in the blog
Greg Harris – Mr. Hyperbaric