When COVID-19 survivors first started reporting lingering symptoms during recovery, they seemed to be isolated incidents. But as the pandemic has worn on, so many people are experiencing ongoing problems that specialized clinics are opening around the country to help them recover from the novel coronavirus. Some clinics say they have so much demand that they are close to capacity.
The Center for Post-COVID Care at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, open since April, is currently working with about 400 patients, says David Putrino, PT, PhD, director of rehabilitation innovation at Mount Sinai, whose team is developing care plans for people with post-acute-COVID syndrome.
The Neuro COVID-19 clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago conducts telehealth and in-person visits with patients recovering from COVID-19 whether they were hospitalized or not. “We have patients who are self-proclaimed COVID-19 long-haulers because they have lingering neurologic effects. These patients are 20 to 60 years old and otherwise healthy,” says Igor J. Koralnik, MD, FAAN, chief of neuroinfectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern Medicine. Their post-COVID neurologic problems include brain fog, dizziness, and headaches. The clinic at Northwestern has seen about 100 patients so far, Dr. Koralnik says.
Specialists at Penn Medicine’s Post-COVID Recovery Clinic in Philadelphia are assisting about 90 patients, says Benjamin Abramoff, MD, assistant professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Penn Medicine. New patients have a one-hour telehealth visit during which they undergo various screenings. Based on the results, they’re referred for additional testing, prescribed treatments, or sent to post-COVID specialists, such as pulmonologists, cardiologists, or physical therapists.
“We help facilitate recovery in a way that’s appropriate but not overly aggressive,” Dr. Abramoff says. “Oftentimes, we encourage patients to get back to activities in a more structured way. For example, instead of full-time work, we might suggest working a few afternoons a week to start. Or if patients have a lot of fatigue throughout the day, we talk to them about planning their days in a way that they feel better and will be able to accomplish more.”
In October, Yale Neurology in New Haven, CT, opened a clinic to evaluate and treat patients who had COVID-19 and continue to experience neurologic symptoms, such as headaches, cognitive problems, and changes in sensation on their arms and legs. “We hope to learn whether these symptoms are related to lingering inflammation, clotting problems, or psychiatric effects of acute COVID-19 infection,” says Serena Spudich, MD, division chief of neurologic infections and global neurology at Yale School of Medicine, who runs the clinic.
More post-COVID clinics are likely on the way. Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston is launching a COVID-19 Survivorship Program, which will involve experts from several medical specialties, including neurology, says Tamara G. Fong, MD, PhD, a staff neurologist at Beth Israel. The program will focus initially on patients recently discharged from the hospital and eventually reach out to those who were hospitalized earlier in the pandemic, Dr. Fong says. “We expect that recovery from COVID will require attention to numerous issues, which is why we are creating a multidisciplinary clinic.”
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