Health
Midwood doctors create at-home monitoring
BY ROSE ADAMS
system for COVID-19 symptoms
A new program spearheaded
by two Midwood doctors
allows people suffering
from COVID-19 symptoms to
monitor their own vitals from
home and call a doctor at any
time should their condition
worsen.
“We’re providing a hospital
bed without contaminating
more people,” said Dr.
Murray Werzberger, an internist
who began the program
in early March.
Dr. Werzberger and his
team evaluate the symptoms
of people who believe
they have COVID-19 over the
phone, and deliver several
items to patients who may
have the virus: a pulse oximeter,
which measures the patient’s
oxygen levels; a thermometer;
and a selection of
Caribbean L 20 ife, May 1-7, 2020
medicines including Tylenol,
Motrin, and over-the-counter
breathing medications.
Patients send photos of
their oxygen levels to the doctor
twice a day — or more,
should their levels drop. A
signifi cant drop in oxygen
signals that the virus has
entered the lungs, a development
that often causes no outward
symptoms, but can become
life-threatening if left
untreated.
“If the numbers fall significantly,
it came into an area
where there was a decision
to be made,” Dr. Werzberger
said.
Patients that report falling
oxygen levels receive a
“video visit” from a Dr. Werzberger
and Dr. Chaim Bernstein,
a pulmonary specialist
and the director of the ICU
at Mount Sinai Beth Israel-
Kings Highway Division. The
two doctors speak to the patients
about their symptoms,
conduct a pulmonary stress
test to determine the severity
of the oxygen levels, and send
oxygen pumps to their home.
If the oxygen levels continue
dropping, the doctors advise
the patients to go to the hospital
to receive higher levels of
oxygen.
The procedure follows
Mount Sinai Hospital’s protocol
without overwhelming
the hospital system, Werzberger
said.
Moreover, it allows patients
to know exactly when
a hospital will admit them
— since many overburdened
medical centers only accept
patients if their oxygen levels
are below a certain threshold.
Werzberger fi rst thought
of launching the program after
one of his patients was released
from the hospital, despite
her serious symptoms,
because her oxygen levels
hovered just above the necessary
admission rate of 90-percent.
“There was a real argument
behind the scenes of
the hospital with what to do
with the lady because she
had pneumonia and she was
clearly sick,” Werzberger
said. “That’s where the whole
idea of creating the hospital
bed at home came from.”
Werzeberger pitched the
idea to Bernstein, and the two
started the program in mid-
March. Since its inception,
the doctors and their teams
have monitored up to 100 patients
at a time during the
virus’ peak in early to mid
April. Now, the program is
only monitoring fi ve patients.
“We went straight seven
days a week non-stop with
phone calls,” Werzberger
said. “We got four to fi ve
hours of sleep.”
Only a handful of patients
have needed to be transferred
to the hospital, and one has
died, Werzebeger said. The
vast majority, however, suffered
mild symptoms and
simply needed the comfort
of knowing a medical professional
was monitoring them,
he said.
“The wonderful part of it
was that a number of people
do not need the hospital, they
just needed to know that they
were okay,” he said. “It was
just a way to help out and get
a little creative.”
SALUTE YOUR LOCAL NURSES!
We’re paying tribute to Nurses and Health Care workers in a special section planned
for National Nurses Week. Please share your stories of a health care professional
that helped you in a time of need. Share your story— in 100 words or less—and a
photo of you and the individual if you have one. Let us know your name, the worker’s
name, and the facility so everyone gets proper credit. Feel free to include a photo of
you and the nurse if you have one.
Send your story to heroes@schnepsmedia.com
Deadline: Sunday, May 3 • Issue Dates: May 7 and 8
link
link
