How this Columbus clinic helped almost 150 people recover from COVID-19
MercyMed, a nonprofit Christian-based health clinic in Columbus, has reported remarkable results from its treatment of coronavirus patients.
Considered the only provider of outpatient COVID-19 treatment in the city, MercyMed’s statistics show it has beaten the odds of hospitalizations and deaths.
Out of the 1,243 tests MercyMed conducted April 3-6 in the parking lot of Cascade Hills Church, 186 were positive and diagnosed with the coronavirus, and 146 of those patients accepted MercyMed’s offer to be in its COVID Care plan.
By April 28, only two patients still were symptomatic. By the end of May, all patients had recovered to their baseline health condition.
Four of the treatment group’s patients went to an emergency room, one was hospitalized, and none died. The Georgia Department of Health reported, as of Wednesday, that 17% of the state’s COVID-19 patients were hospitalized and 4% had died.
If MercyMed’s patients progressed at the state average, 25 of the 146 would have been hospitalized and six would have died.
“Incredible,” Dr. Joyce Kim, MercyMed’s chief medical officer, told the Ledger-Enquirer. “Honestly, I just praise the Lord every time I see those statistics.”
How they did it
MercyMed’s plan comprised in-office and at-home aspects. All patients were called daily to check on their symptoms and to help with their psycho-social needs, 87 were treated in the office, and 14 were prescribed medication.
The initial office visits were April 10-14. Each of the 87 in-office patients returned to the clinic 10 days later for a follow-up check.
During the visits, the patient’s vital signs, medical history, blood work and body-mass index were checked. Chest X-rays, lung ultrasounds and electrocardiograms also were done.
Mercer University medical school students in Columbus helped MercyMed’s nurses with the daily calls to patients. They called as many as 113 patients per day and reached as many as 94.
MercyMed also offered the patients pastoral counseling, prayers, mentoring phone calls and video chats, and tangible needs such as personal protective equipment. Some even received groceries if MercyMed knew their need.
About 20% of the treatment group had an underlying condition, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity or an autoimmune deficiency. They were among the 14 patients MercyMed treated with medication.
The protocol started those patients on Azithromycin for five days, as well as Hydroxychloroquine if an assessment of their heart matched MercyMed’s criteria. The drug regimen was discontinued when symptoms subsided. Patients also were given vitamin D, zinc and aspirin.
Understanding the controversy about using Hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19, including the Food and Drug Administration’s caution against its use outside of a hospital or clinical trial, Kim explained MercyMed’s rationale.
“We’re continuing to learn about the disease, and at the time, we made our decision with the information at hand,” she said. “There was preliminary data from a small study in France that showed it was effective, and a group in Birmingham used the medication on a group of COVID individuals without serious side effects and perhaps benefit. Then having decided to use it, we made sure to avoid cardiac complications with pre- and post-treatment EKGs, which was not done in many of the other locations that were using HCQ.”
Although the mass testing MercyMed conducted significantly increased the number of confirmed cases in Muscogee County, which was 673 as of Wednesday, MercyMed’s treatment helped prevent Muscogee’s number of hospitalizations (105) and deaths (18) to rise.
Sharing the credit
Kim credits the daily phone calls as being key to the treatment’s success.
“In terms of the level of mental health and anxiety with it, just because so much was unknown,” she said, “I think making the daily phone calls was pivotal in allowing patients to feel as though, ‘OK, I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know MercyMed is going to call.’ So kind of having that anchor was helpful for patients.”
A survey of patients supports that notion. All 44 respondents said they would recommend the care that MercyMed provided.
Along with Kim, the treatment team members were Dr. Grant Scarborough, founder and executive director of MercyMed, medical assistant Jared Hubbard and office manager Brooke Franklin.
Kim also credits MercyMed’s partners during this treatment: the health department, Church of the Highlands, Cascade Hills Church and Christ Health Center in Birmingham. MercyMed based its coronavirus plan on that center’s protocol.
And all the MercyMed coronavirus patients were treated free of charge, thanks to in-kind and financial donations.
“I’ve never been to a city that’s such an advocate for its own city,” Kim said. “This just proves that all over again. People are eager to help; they just need an opportunity. The volunteers showed up when we said this is what we needed. The finances just came.”
Kim graduated from Ohio University’s medical school 5½ years ago, did her residency at Resurrection Health in Memphis, Tenn., and has been working at MercyMed for 2½ years. She called her COVID-19 experience “the steepest learning curve.”
“Residency doesn’t necessarily prepare you for it,” she said. “Especially in the softer skills of medicine, working with patients and programs, doctors, department of public health, I’ve always been an advocate of public health, but I guess this solidified that in my mind again.”
WHERE TO GET A COVID-19 TEST
In addition to the Columbus Health Department, 2100 Comer Ave., 706-321-6300, MercyMed is providing COVID-19 testing free of charge by appointment Mondays, Wednesday and Fridays, 8:30-11:30 a.m., at its clinic, 3702 Second Ave., 706-507-9209, and once a week at various locations for folks who would have trouble reaching them.
