The University of Kansas Health System is offering a new clinic for long-haulers, those patients who have had COVID-19 symptoms for weeks or months.
The clinic will bring together specialists from different areas to work together with recovering COVID-19 patients, according to Dr. Branden Comfort, internal medicine. Among the specialties that will be represented are pulmonary, cardiology, neurology, psychology, rehab, social work and physical medicine.
Dr. Comfort said there are patients coming in every day who have long-term persistent symptoms of COVID-19. Some of those symptoms might include fatigue, coughs, shortness of breath, joint pains, chest pain, brain fog and others.
Dr. Comfort talked about the clinic at the Monday morning media update at the KU Health System. The clinic is not a building by itself, but rather a group of people coordinating and working together.
Those who have had symptoms for at least 12 weeks can participate in the clinic, according to Dr. Comfort. Services will be available for as long as needed. Primary care doctors will help connect patients to the right specialists, he said.
Casey Pickering, intensive care unit nurse manager, said last March, they never thought that they would still be doing critical care triage for COVID-19 patients today. Pickering helped put together their triage area in March, and she talked about how it was different than other ICUs.
One difference is there aren’t family visits for COVID-19 patients, and that means that staff become like families to the patients, helping them celebrate their birthdays and communicating remotely with families. The end-of-life issues are more difficult to deal with remotely.
Health care workers may experience post-traumatic stress from the higher number of deaths with COVID-19 patients. Pickering said people should check in with health care providers to see how they’re doing.
COVID-19 case numbers
Case numbers saw a drop on Monday morning, with 66 active COVID-19 patients in the hospital, a decrease of five since Friday, according to Dr. Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control. There were 23 patients in the ICU, no change from Friday, and 14 on ventilators Monday morning, a decrease of one since Friday. In addition, 56 other patients were still in the hospital but out of the acute phase, a decrease of 14 since Friday. There was a total of 122 COVID-19 patients at KU Health System, a decrease of 19 since Friday.
Wyandotte County reported an increase of 61 COVID-19 cases on Monday, Jan. 11, according to the Unified Government’s COVID-19 webpage. There were a cumulative 15,627 cases. There were four additional deaths reported Monday, for a cumulative total of 208.
The Mid-America Regional Council’s COVID-19 dashboard reported 134,564 cumulative COVID-19 cases on Monday. There were 1,609 deaths, and 157 was the daily average of new hospitalizations.
The state of Kansas reported a total cumulative 247,502 COVID-19 cases on Monday, an increase of 5,180 cases since Friday, according to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. There was a total of 3,255 deaths.
The Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 dashboard on Monday reported 22,618,066 total cumulative cases in the United States, with 376,060 total deaths nationwide.
Free COVID-19 testing available Tuesday
The Unified Government Health Department’s COVID-19 test site at the former Kmart building at 78th and State will be open on Tuesday, Jan. 12, with testing from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Tests are free for those who live or work in Wyandotte County. The tests are nasopharyngeal swab tests. The Health Department no longer uses saliva tests.
The tests now are open to asymptomatic people as well as those who have symptoms or have been exposed to COVID-19. Check with the UG Health Department’s Facebook page to see if there have been any changes in the schedule. Bring something that shows that you live or work in Wyandotte County, such as a utility bill.
COVID-19 tests will be available from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pierson Community Center parking lot, 1800 S. 55th St., Kansas City, Kansas. Hours are subject to change depending on the weather and other factors. These tests are through WellHealth Management. For more information and to schedule a test, visit www.GoGetTested.com/Kansas.
Testing sites are at https://wyandotte-county-covid-19-hub-unifiedgov.hub.arcgis.com/pages/what-to-do-if-you-think-you-have-covid-19.
For more information about the testing site at the former Kmart location, visit https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/10092020_newtestingsitewyco.pdf.
The KU doctors’ news conference is at https://www.facebook.com/kuhospital/videos/157685952532833.
The new school health order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/localhealthofficerschoolorder01042021.pdf.
A letter explaining the new school health order is online at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/schoolletter_01052021_english.pdf.
To see information about the UG giving vaccines to health care workers, visit https://wyandotteonline.com/ug-to-start-giving-covid-19-vaccines-to-health-department-and-ems-personnel-next-week/.
The KDHE vaccine report is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/DocumentCenter/View/1708/COVID-19-Vaccine-Updates–123020-FINAL-PDF?bidId=.
Cards and letters of encouragement for caregivers at KU Health System may be sent to Share Joy, care of Patient Relations, 4000 Cambridge St., Mailstop 1021, Kansas City, Kansas, 66160. Emails can be sent to [email protected].
Wyandotte County is under a mandatory mask and social distancing order. Also, the Wyandotte County health order with a limit of 10 persons to a gathering, and a closing time of 10 p.m. for restaurants and bars, with other new restrictions, is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/files/assets/public/health/documents/covid/11162020localhealthorderexecuted.pdf.
The UG COVID-19 webpage is at https://alpha.wycokck.org/Coronavirus-COVID-19-Information.
The KDHE’s COVID-19 webpage is at https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/.
The KC Region COVID-19 Hub dashboard is at https://marc2.org/covidhub/.
The Wyandotte County page on the Johns Hopkins COVID-19 website is at https://bao.arcgis.com/covid-19/jhu/county/20209.html.