New Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic Opens its Doors for First ‘Long-Hauler’ Patients
On Monday, June 21, the University of Utah’s new Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic welcomed its first patients in Clinic E10. This clinic was created as an effort to provide more comprehensive and coordinated care for COVID-19 ‘long-haulers,’ or patients who continue to experience lingering symptoms, such as fatigue, cough, and breathing issues, for weeks or months after initial infection.
The need for a dedicated long-haulers clinic was identified back in November 2020 during the height of the pre-vaccine pandemic.
“Not only were we seeing a lot of COVID inpatients, but we were also starting to accumulate more and more outpatients whose symptoms were still persisting,” says Dr. Jeanette Brown, Director of the Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic. “The need for a long-haulers clinic was highly evident, and after many months of behind-the-scenes work and support of institutional leadership, I am proud that we have finally opened our doors and are seeing our first patients.
Though only a few patients were seen on the clinic’s first day, Dr. Brown is hopeful that more long-haulers will begin to make appointments as the word continues to spread about this unique, triage-based clinic.
“COVID symptoms present in a wide variety of disciplines and specialties across the University of Utah,” Brown says. “Many of our long-haulers don’t know where to start in seeking care for their lingering symptoms, and they need help in navigating our complex health care system.”
The Comprehensive COVID-19 clinic will act as a ‘care navigation’ clinic, ensuring that patients receive referrals to subspecialities that directly relate to their lingering symptoms. At their first appointments, long-haulers will meet with the Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic team. The team will review the patient’s symptoms experienced upon initial infection versus what they are experiencing today, identifying different areas in which to help or making recommendations for referrals.
The team can include a medical assistant, a nurse care coordinator, Dr. Brown, and a specialized nurse practitioner, Ally Bryden. Bryden is no stranger to the University of Utah or the treatment and care of COVID-19 patients, having worked as a nurse in the U’s medical ICU for the last seven years. It was in the ICU that Bryden and Dr. Brown first worked together, and eventually collaborated in the care of COVID-19 inpatients during the height of the pandemic. A recent graduate of the University of Utah’s Nurse Practitioner program, Bryden’s previous COVID ICU experience makes her uniquely qualified to serve as the dedicated Advanced Practice Clinician for this clinic.
“Ally’s first-hand experience treating the worst COVID-19 symptoms in the ICU will translate directly into her work in the Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic,” Brown says. “She will apply her thoughtfulness and skill as a provider to our outpatient COVID patients just as she did for our inpatients in the ICU. She is an expert on this subject matter, and will eventually be seeing long-hauler patients largely on her own.”
Bryden is excited to continue seeing patients through their COVID-19 journeys at the University of Utah. “Our long-hauler patients just want to feel heard and validated,” she says, “and this clinic is an important step in that process. COVID-19 is also an ever-evolving situation, with new research and treatment updates happening every day. I truly look forward to sharing these updates with our patients!”
The Comprehensive COVID-19 Clinic is now open and scheduling appointments. Patients and referring providers should call 801-213-0884 to schedule an appointment.