CHI St. Alexius Health in Bismarck has opened a Post-COVID Care Clinic for individuals in the community who may be experiencing post-acute COVID syndrome. Long term symptoms of post-acute COVID may include fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, and depression. J'Patrick (Jay Patrick) Fahn is CHI St. Alexius Bismarck Interim Chief Medical Officer and Family Medicine Department Chair. He says the clinic will offer a variety of services to its patients.
"A lot of it is tailored to the concerns and the issues that the patient is having after COVID. The most common referrals, the ones that we like to call standard referrals, are going to be evaluation by physical therapy and by speech and cognitive therapy. Physical therapy, because again, the most common post-acute symptom is fatigue."
Fahn says as the clinic gains more support from the community, they hope to start a support group for those struggling since contracting COVID 19. The Post-COVID Care Clinic is located in the Bismarck Medical Arts Plaza and is open to anyone who may be experiencing long-term symptoms.
"They should have had suspected COVID or was positive for COVID, and they need to be at least a month, if not two months, out from the initial symptoms, because they need to be outside of that acute phase. If you are outside of that one month window of COVID and you're like, 'man, I'm just tired all the time, I can't get to work, I can barely function,' or 'I'm short of breath, I feel like I'm two months outside of my COVID infection, I shouldn't be short of breath anymore,' or 'I've got trouble thinking ever since I got COVID,' and really anything. If you have anything that you don't understand that we cant find, that your doctor, your primary care provider hasn't been able to find another reason for, it's a possibility that it could be post-acute COVID if you've had COVID, and that is exactly what this clinic is for. "
Walk-in patients are welcome every Thursday from 1 to 2 p.m.