By BROOKE FELDMAN
Imagine trying to focus on an urgent work assignment, but your brain feels foggy. Picture trying to go for a stress-relieving walk, but you find it difficult to breathe. See yourself wanting to spend quality time with family and friends, but you just cannot build up the energy.
“Brain fog,” shortness of breath and fatigue are some of the most common symptoms of long-haul COVID-19, both in patients who had a severe case and those who had it mildly.
Roughly 30,000 people in Atlantic County have been diagnosed with COVID-19. Up to 30% of people who had COVID-19 experience long-term symptoms, according to AtlantiCare. This means about 10,000 Atlantic County residents could still be suffering with symptoms that make daily living a daily struggle.
Mary Ann Yehl, DO, medical director of Telehealth and Ambulatory Quality, AtlantiCare, explains that local physicians saw a significant number of patients with these long-term symptoms.
“It’s really time consuming to get a good idea of what is going on,” said Yehl, who explains that many long-haul patients have multiple, diverse symptoms. “Most doctors don’t have that time in a normal visit.”
To combat this issue, AtlantiCare wants to provide care that allows post-COVID-19 patients to not feel alone when it comes to lingering effects of the virus.
AtlantiCare recently opened their Post-COVID-19 Long-Haul Clinic for those who have tested positive for COVID-19 and are still experiencing persistent symptoms at least 30 days after infection.
“The patients are completely overwhelmed when they first come to us because of their physical symptoms and because they’ve been typically going on for a really long time,” said Yehl, who oversees the clinic. “This isn’t like a cold that has been going on for a few days.”
The clinic’s team of physicians are dedicated to helping post-COVID-19 patients get the proper care all within one network to make it simple.
“I think just knowing that we are really putting our arms around them as a healthcare system is really comforting,” Yehl said.
Some people with prolonged COVID-19 symptoms can have multiorgan effects, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Damage can emerge in the heart, kidneys, lungs, nervous system, liver and other organs. Mental and behavioral effects, including PTSD after intensive care treatment, can also take hold. AtlantiCare’s goal is to be a multidisciplinary clinic that provides a comprehensive approach.
The process begins with a one-hour virtual consultation with an AtlantiCare board-certified primary care physician. An individualized course of action for the patient will be determined. Treatment and rehabilitation needs are identified, and appointments with specialists are coordinated. Throughout the patient’s journey in the clinic, communication is constant between the specialists and the primary care physicians.
“We created this clinic to really be a great starting point by doing a giant intake of these patients to see what exactly is going on,” Yehl said. “We go through all of the different body systems and hone in on where the different problem areas are to facilitate the patients in getting to those specialists, getting to them quickly and even getting them rides if they need rides. It’s really just navigating our health system.”
More research on the virus is needed to determine how long the post-COVID-19 mental and physical effects can persist and why they persist in the first place. Both rapid and multi-year studies are underway to fully understand the long-term effects and how to best treat them, according to CDC.
In the meantime, the AtlantiCare Post-COVID-19 Long-Haul Clinic hopes to be a “temporary pit stop” on the way back to a normal life for their patients.
“The goal is to bring patients as close to their baseline function as possible,” said Yehl, who wants anyone to come forward with these symptoms in order to live a better life once again.
For more information, AtlantiCare recently launched a podcast called “Spreading the Health” that tackles common and timely health and wellness issues. In this month’s debut episode, Yehl discusses long-haul COVID-19 and the AtlantiCare Post-COVID-19 Long-Haul Clinic.
Post-Covid-19 Long-Haul Clinic New Jersey (NJ), AtlantiCare, Egg Harbor Township
