By Marcelle McAdoo
Maya McNulty was at the peak of her entrepreneurial career when she became a two-time best-selling author in 2019 for her book “Fundraising Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Nonprofits To Fundraise Fast, Grow Sponsors, Build a Massive Donor List, Upsurge Donations & Impact the World”. Her book received high praise from members of nonprofit organizations looking to improve their philanthropic techniques.
Little did anyone anticipate that months later, the world would begin to grapple with the sudden onset of a global pandemic. In March 2020, COVID-19 emerged seemingly out of nowhere, and regular people as well as healthcare professionals in the United States were forced to face a formidable challenge- navigating a relentless virus with many unknowns.
Despite treating a nation-record 1.5 million patients in the preceding year, professionals at Yale-New Haven Health needed to prepare for the inevitable surge of patients seeking medical attention for a condition they had yet to learn about. Nevertheless, they not only met the challenge head-on but illuminated a new frontier in medical innovation and resilience.
Credit: Marcelle McAdoo
“Employees in every department in the health system have contributed to our COVID-19 efforts,” YNNH CEO Marna Borgstrom stated at a virtual town hall in March 2020. Just weeks before her speech praising her colleagues, the hospital admitted its first patient with a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis.
This triggered the beginning of dozens of impromptu physical changes being made throughout the two-campus medical center, the CEO said. Elective procedures were decreased, and routine visits to the hospital were rescheduled to free up negative-pressure rooms and reduce the contagion of COVID-19 and other viruses on-site. These rooms are designed to control the airflow in a way that prevents the spread of airborne contaminants. Yale-New Haven Health’s SYN: APSE Simulation Center was turned into a lab for making and reconstructing PPEs.
While these changes damaged the hospital’s finances, with an expected gross operating loss of up to $450 million for 2020 according to a financial disclosure document filed by the hospital, their workers were rewarded with high praise and national recognition for their innovation during unprecedented hours. In July 2022, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the Yale New Haven Health Hospital over $6 million for the additional costs of ensuring safety in Connecticut during the pandemic.
The battle against COVID-19 continues for many early patients, and Yale New Haven Health says it remains dedicated to its ongoing care and support. Long COVID, which is still a mystery for both those who have it and those attempting to treat it, is defined by the World Health Organization as “the continuation or development of new symptoms 3 months after the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection, with these symptoms lasting for at least two months with no other explanation.” In a study by Chui Leung published in July, researchers found that individuals grappling with Long COVID find themselves in the shadows of uncertainty and skepticism, with minimal answers and their voices going unheard.
“Three years later, when you’re thinking about how you’re going to heal, it’s not like it’s a broken leg where you’re going to heal in eight weeks,” said Maya McNulty, an early diagnosed patient of COVID-19 currently struggling with Long COVID.
For more information regarding the development of Long COVID, visit https://covid19.nih.gov/covid-19-topics/long-covid
Although recent research has focused more on the physical repercussions of Long COVID, for certain individuals, the mental struggles that come with it are just as noteworthy.
“Most people think the pandemic is over. Well, it’s not over for people who have lost their parents and children in the pandemic, McNulty said. It’s also not over for people who have Long COVID and their families who have watched them either die or their lifestyle changed.”
Coping with Long COVID can be immensely stressful, as recent studies by psychologists show that both the condition and the challenges of in-hospital treatment may lead to the onset of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Even individuals without a COVID-19 infection and not grappling with Long COVID have reported mental health impacts. The World Health Organization claims the first year of the global pandemic resulted in a staggering 25 percent increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression across the globe.
Yale New Haven Health’s Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program opened in June 2020 and treated a large number of Long COVID patients across the country. But both experts and patients believed there was much more work to be done.
“We’re not paying enough attention”, said Dr. Lisa Sanders. “We’re not. Doctors are still dismissing the disease as something that’s in your head.”
Sanders, a proficient medical professional and professor of internal medicine at Yale, advocated for an alternative approach that gives greater attention to the treatment of Long COVID patients. This would involve establishing a clinic where individuals can receive a comprehensive one-hour consultation with an internal medicine doctor.
Yale New Haven Hospital announced in March 2023 that The Winchester Center for Lung Disease Recovery program was to be moved to the Department of New Medicine and given a new name. The Yale New Haven Long Haul COVID Multispecialty Clinic was made with Sanders, the Medical Director of the Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program spearheading the initiative she and her colleagues look to achieve.
Credit: Marcelle McAdoo, Karl Brooks
Current patients seeking attention at the Long COVID Center get referred through the program by their primary doctor. When they arrive in New Haven, they get evaluated by a team of social workers and physical therapists. Once they gather the desired information about the patient, they reach out to a respiratory therapist to construct a care plan. The treatments that were once being attempted by specialists in other departments were now being run by doctors like Sanders whose top priority is expanding the knowledge of Long COVID and its treatment. In addition, patients were allowed to be participants in their research methods.
Medical professors expressed contentment with the findings of a research study at the University of Pennsylvania that provides some insight into understanding what exactly causes the illness. Doctors Christoph Thaiss and Maayan Levy studied the impact and mechanism of reduced levels of circulating serotonin. Their findings helped conclude that the subset of people focused on had persistent virus infection. Doctors believe that given this knowledge, antiviral agents like Paxlovid or monoclonal antibodies could be beneficial in defeating the root cause of Long COVID. While it will require time to convert the findings into treatment plans, medical professionals are still pleased with the small glimpse of understanding provided.
“There is a clear biological basis for this syndrome, and we’re defining the root causes that drive these different endotypes of disease. And I’m personally very excited about and hopeful that science is moving forward at an extraordinary pace. Understanding disease root causes and treatment takes many, many years. But I think there’s a lot of talent and dedicated people with a desire to find diagnostic tools and therapies that can be used to improve the lives of people with long COVID, and this kind of research will also inform treatment strategies for other post-acute infection syndromes, including MECFS and chronic Lyme. So, I think we need to ensure continuous funding in this field so that we can grow the next generation of scientists to carry the torch. But I’m personally very excited about the future,” Dr. Akkiko Iwasaki of Yale told the American Medical Association.
While research efforts continue for Yale New Haven Health and hospitals across the globe, the 18 million Americans with Long COVID according to the CDC continue to struggle to navigate through the intricate web of challenges that have come with the disease.
“In this ongoing saga of Long COVID, the resilience of those affected calls for a united effort- breaking down barriers in mental health, fostering understanding, and advocating for comprehensive care,” McNulty said.
“It’s not an individual struggle; it’s a collective responsibility to illuminate the path towards recovery for those that have been enduring this prolonged battle for far too long.”