Memorial Health System offers COVID-19 treatments
Dr. Dan Breece, vice president of physician services and chief medical officer for Memorial Health System, shows vials of the COVID 19 vaccine. The Memorial Health System is registering people for drive-through vaccination clinics to be offered in the near future. (Photo Provided)
A patient gets treated at Memorial Health System’s Infusion Clinic at the Belpre Medical Campus. In November, the Memorial health System began offering the two leading monoclonal antibody therapies in the treatment of COVID-19, Bamlanivimab (Bam) and Regeneron. (Photo Provided)
Dr. Dan Breece, vice president of physician services and chief medical officer for Memorial Health System, shows vials of the COVID 19 vaccine. The Memorial Health System is registering people for drive-through vaccination clinics to be offered in the near future. (Photo Provided)
A patient gets treated at Memorial Health System’s Infusion Clinic at the Belpre Medical Campus. In November, the Memorial health System began offering the two leading monoclonal antibody therapies in the treatment of COVID-19, Bamlanivimab (Bam) and Regeneron. (Photo Provided)
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MARIETTA -- Memorial Health System is continuing to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a number of treatments as well as having efforts underway to get people vaccinated.
Like other healthcare facilities across the country, the Memorial Health System (MHS) which operates Marietta Memorial Hospital and the Belpre Medical Campus in Ohio and Sistersville General Hospital in West Virginia, are seeing a number of patients who have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.
"From the COVID standpoint, we are seeing a little bit of an uptick with inpatients in our hospital (Marietta Memorial Hospital)," said Dr. Dan Breece, vice president of physician services and chief medical officer for Memorial Health System. "We have had the highest instances of a community healthcare system in the state of Ohio, if not regionally. Our highest census was 75 which was far higher than most hospitals around us."
This past week, their census is now around 45 COVID positive patients or patients presumed to have COVID, Breece said.
For months, the MHS has been able to offer just about every single therapy most hospitals can offer in the treatment of COVID-19, with the exception of a few that were reserved for large academic care centers.
In November, the MHS began offering the two leading monoclonal antibody therapies, Bamlanivimab (Bam) and Regeneron which are done through an I.V. drip, in the treatment of COVID-19 at their infusion center at the Belpre Medical Campus. These are in addition to the vaccines that have begun to be administered nationwide.
MHS has done those treatments for around 100 patients so far in Belpre. Bam has been used since November.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, MHS allows the ER or urgent care or any primary care doctor who has the patient who is COVID positive and meets the criteria for these treatments to be referred to that clinic and receive that infusion.
They have also been able to offer Convalescent plasma which uses blood from people who have recovered from an illness; Remdesivir, an antiviral treatment; Decadron therapy and other therapies. These have been used with inpatients for months.
They have done as few as four a day and as many as 15-16 in a day.
"We truly believe it helps the recovery time for these patients and hopefully keeps them out of the hospital and reduces the deaths from COVID," Breece said. "We are collecting our own data but national data has shown that it seems to be working positively for COVID patients."
COVID testing is continuing at the urgent care facility, the Physician Care Express near Wal-Mart, on Pike Street. The drive-thru testing is available six days a week, Monday to Saturday, with appointments available on Sundays if patients meet the required criteria.
Breece said they have been excited about the vaccine rollout in recent weeks. They have been receiving shipments of the Moderna vaccine and they have begun receiving the Pfizer vaccine.
Work has been underway to vaccinate frontline healthcare workers and first responders. Over the past week, MHS was also able to administer vaccines to over 400 people, 80-years-old and older., during drive-through clinics.
Scheduling is underway for clinics being planned in the future.
People are being advised to call 844-887-4148 to do the pre-registration work, said Jennifer Offenberger, associate vice president, service excellence for Memorial Health System.
The process will get their information together so they will be able to go right through the clinic and get vaccinated when the time comes. Once a clinic is set up for their age group, they will be contacted to make the appointment with the time and location of the drive-through clinic.
"You have to have an appointment," Offenberger said of people going to the clinics. "We have a drive-through format where people can drive up and get their shot, but they do have to have an appointment.
"That is why the phone number is so important."
Even if it is not their time, people can still be registered and have that work done.
Offenberger said Memorial will continually put updates on social media about more clinics as they become available. As of Thursday, MHS has over 2,600 people signed up.
COVID infections are occurring "across the board" with a variety of people of various ages being tested positive.
"The 80 and above age group is where you see the highest number of deaths," Breece said.
When it comes to COVID, people still need to be vigilant, Breece said.
Everyone is in the vaccination period and while some people are vaccinated, others are not.
"We need to make sure everyone in the community continues to adhere to the guidelines, continue to social distance and wear masks."
Contact Brett Dunlap at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com