UC Health opens 'long COVID-19' clinic; TriHealth, Mercy Health also coordinating care - The Cincinnati Enquirer

Nearly 17 months into the coronavirus pandemic, hospitals in the Cincinnati area are devoting more resources to caring for people with "long COVID-19," the sometimes debilitating efforts of about with the infection.

Tuesday, UC Health unveiled what it called the region's first clinic dedicated to long-haul  COVID to help patients whose primary-care doctors have referred them.

"COVID-19 is not done with us, and we are not done with COVID-19," said Dr. Charles Hattemer, a UC Health cardiologist, in a UC Health statement. At the new clinic, "Multiple specialties and clinicians combine their expertise to help patients," he said.

Also leading the clinic are Dr. Richard C. Becker, director of the UC Heart, Lung and Vascular Institute, and Dr. Rachel Foot, a UC Health internist. Hattemer, Becker and Foot also teach at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine.

For some people, the consequences of COVID-19 linger after the critical effects have passed, and they can be debilitating. The chronic symptoms vary so widely that the National Institutes of Health has proposed a unifying name: post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection, or PASC.

Long COVID-19 can cause long-term persistent shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, fatigue, impaired stamina, chest pain, palpitations, dizzy spells, exercise intolerance, swings in blood pressure or concentration. Hattemer said that if a patient demonstrates symptoms like this 20 days or more after an infection, a clinical evaluation may be in order.

The clinic, at UC Health in Corryville, includes cardiology, pulmonology, neurology, rheumatology, psychology and dermatology.

TriHealth's Good Samaritan Hospital has established a rehabilitation unit for long COVID-19 sufferers. In a company release, Dr. David Wiltse, a pulmonary critical care specialist at the University Heights hospital, called long COVID-19 "the untold part of this tragedy."

Wiltse said 75% of long COVID-19 patients he sees have profound fatigue, 50% have cognitive issues, 50% have psychological issues, nearly 50% have general muscle issues and difficulty breathing and about 10% have serious lung damage.

"I've been in this business 40 years. I've never seen anything more terrifying than this, anything more perplexing than this," Wiltse said.

At Bon Secours Mercy Health, primary care doctors are working with guidelines developed with Ohio State University to treat long COVID-19 patients, said Dr. Steve Feagins, chief clinical officer for Mercy Health-Cincinnati.

Doctors can refer patients to the UC Health clinic by calling 513-475-8521.

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