Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital is launching a program to help children with long-term COVID-19 symptoms continue on the road to recovery. It’s based at the Pediatric Specialty Center at the children’s hospital.
Dr. Elijah Paintsil specializes in pediatric infectious disease there. He says this all came together after hearing from families with treatment questions about long-term COVID-19 symptoms.
“Some of them cannot go to sleep, some of them cannot concentrate on work at school, some of them cannot play sports,” Paintsil said.
And some may have health issues around heart, lungs or even joint pain. Paintsil says there are a lot of questions on how best to treat children recovering from COVID-19. There are some patients they’ve seen at the hospital, but he says that’s “the tip of the iceberg.” Many more are out in the medical communities.
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“A lot of the times the parents don’t know what to do with it and also the community pediatricians don’t know what to do with it because it’s a new phenomenon,” Paintsil said.
So, Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital created the Children’s Post-COVID Comprehensive Care Program. Now, there’s one stop for resources and treatment. A triage nurse will make an assessment when an appointment is made.
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“And from the symptoms that are described, we’d be able to know who should come for that appointment,” Paintsil said.
Social workers, mental health professionals, cardiologists, pediatricians are all among those on the roster for treatment plans that will create a total health response.
“That’s another part that’s great too, that it’s all in one center so parents don’t have to make various appointments, they don’t have to coordinate going to different locations and everything,” said Jill Meyerhoff of Meriden.
She was among the people who told NBC Connecticut that this program will be a relief for parents who are trying to coordinate care between different specialties.
“I think that’s important because it takes a lot of burden off of parents worrying about getting medical care,” said Martha Dye of New Haven.
Paintsil also hopes by working together, experts can also help solve the mystery behind the long-term effects of COVID. For appointments, you can call 877-YALE-MDS.
