The number of recovered COVID-19 patients in the state of Alaska is 563, and of the 79 patients that have been hospitalized due to the virus, 30 remain hospitalized. To help the recovery process, the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle has created a post-COVID-19 telehealth clinic to help address those needs in a comprehensive way.
Stories of survivors leaving intensive-care units have been met with applause and cheers, but that’s often not the end of their fight. Patients’ recoveries can be long. A COVID-19 infection can have lingering effects on breathing, endurance, physical functioning, memory, attention, and mental health.
Dr. Aaron Bunnell, assistant professor of rehabilitation medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine: “With the COVID pandemic, we have been transitioning to a lot of telehealth resources for patients in-general. We thought this would be an ideal program for our patients with COVID. There are obvious challenges having a patient with an active infection following-up in an outpatient setting so how can we deliver those resources to the patient in a way that is safe for them and for everyone else?”
He also discusses the advantages of telehealth: “The advantage of telehealth is that you’re seeing the person, you’re seeing the environment. There are things you can do with a telehealth visit that you can’t do with a phone visit. For example, I can have the patient march in place or do sit-to-stand exercises so I can see how they’re functioning.”
More information about the program can be found here.
