Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program
The Winchester Center for Lung Disease's Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program offers pulmonary-focused, multidisciplinary evaluation and care for patients recovering from COVID-19. We partner with teams taking care of patients in the hospital, as well as community providers to identify patients who have persistent symptoms or appear at risk of developing post-COVID-19 complications.
We accept the following patients:
- Those who required hospitalization for treatment of COVID-19, including but not restricted to those requiring ICU admission
- Those who did not require hospitalization but have continued to experience respiratory symptoms for more than six weeks following original infection
- Those with pre-existing, underlying lung disease who had COVID-19 of any severity
While most patients hospitalized with COVID-19 do well, it may be a matter of months, not weeks, for many to feel fully recovered. Even for patients who had a mild form of disease or had no significant pre-existing respiratory issues, it is not unusual for significant difficulty or labored breathing and fatigue to linger well beyond acute illness.
Our Services
At an initial visit, patients are evaluated by a pulmonologist and a physical therapist. They undergo full pulmonary function testing and are assessed to see what kind of physical therapy and/or occupational therapy they may need. Additional diagnostic tests, such as CT scan and laboratory work, are tailored to individual symptoms. While the long-term impact of COVID-19 on lung function is still unknown, patients will be monitored until symptoms resolve and pulmonary treatments will be initiated, if needed.
We also check other symptoms and evaluate a patient’s history to identify non-respiratory problems, including neurocognitive changes, behavioral health needs, cardiovascular issues, and sleep problems. This allows us to expedite involvement of other subspecialty treatment teams. All of our testing, treatment plans, and subsequent follow-up care is tailored to the needs of each patient.
Patients may be referred to the Winchester Center for Lung Disease’s Post-COVID-19 Recovery Program (“REF94” in EPIC, phone 203-495-2410, or fax 203-239-8290) by their inpatient or outpatient providers. It is helpful if “post-covid symptoms” are indicated in the reason for referral.