More than a year ago, Lisa Tarko caught COVID-19 and was hospitalized for nearly a month.
She still lives with the effects of the virus every day.
“It’s really a struggle,” said Tarco, 64, who is among tens of thousands of Canadians living with post-COVID, also known as long-term COVID.
A team of researchers from the University of Manitoba is now trying to better understand how long COVID has been affecting Manitoba, and health care providers are working here to help people with symptoms.
These symptoms can include fatigue, chest pain, speech problems and problems with breathing, memory and concentration, says the World Health Organization.
Tarco had to use oxygenated food before COVID-19 due to severe asthma and symptoms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD. She also used a walker, but only when she went out.
Now she needs a walker even at home. She lives with chronic headaches, fatigue and brain fog.
“I am no longer in a hurry to make decisions,” Tarco said. “My thought process is very slow now … It’s from COVID and I’m tired all the time. I’m tired all the time.
Manitoba does not track long cases of COVID
A recent report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States says that one in five COVID-19 survivors there aged 18-64 and one in four aged 65 and over had at least one accident that could due to their infection.
A Manitoba spokesman for Shared Health said the province was not tracking the number of people with long-term COVID – but that’s what researchers are now trying to learn.
Dr. Alan Katz, a family physician and health services researcher at the Center for Health Policy in Manitoba, is part of a team using data from Manitoba’s health records to see if those with a positive PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test for COVID -19 have gone to seek care for symptoms that could be related to prolonged COVID.
“We’re really working to understand the data available and make sure we’re doing it right,” Katz said. “We don’t want to overestimate or underestimate this because it has a significant impact on both patients … and healthcare providers.”
The team also launched a study in the coming weeks to collect data from people who tested positive for a rapid antigen test because the province restricted access to more sensitive PCR tests in Manitoba at the time the variant infections began. of the Omicron coronavirus to jump.
“We can combine the two types of information and determine if there is a difference between Omicron or pre-Omicron.”
Katz expects to be able to start sharing the findings of the fall study.
Planning is needed
He said the pandemic focused on the availability of hospital beds and emergency room requirements, which are important considerations.
But it is important to recognize that people with long-term COVID will also need care and not enough is being done to prepare for it, he said.
“There are all kinds of factors that are important to understand in order to be able to plan and help … to provide care for those people who are likely or have already developed these very serious symptoms.
At present, patients with long-term COVID or post-COVID-19 conditions are usually managed by a primary care provider who can refer them to specialists when appropriate, according to Shared Health.
Esther Hawn is an occupational therapist in the Easy Street Rehabilitation Program at Misericordia Health Center. (Alana Cole / CBC)
At Misericordia Health Center in Winnipeg, patients with long-term COVID are treated through the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program and Easy Street, a rehabilitation program focused on developing independent living skills after life-threatening accidents such as brain injury or stroke.
Easy Street occupational therapist Esther Hawn said she saw patients with significant fatigue and “brain fog” or cognitive impairment after COVID.
“A lot of our clients come to us because they had to stop working, they had to stop going to school, their parenting responsibilities are affected,” Hawn said.
It helps patients develop tools and strategies to help them return to normal or adapt to the new normal.
At any given time, about 50% of her cases are now people with long-term COVID, she said.
“The system is working really hard to keep up with the requirements, but I think the demand has exceeded everyone’s expectations. So more support for the ongoing rehabilitation of COVID would be great. “
Hawn would like to see more understanding of how long COVID has affected people and hopes those with symptoms will seek care.
Respiratory therapist Laura Zeltser, who works across the room in the MHC’s lung rehabilitation program, agrees. She estimates that patients after COVID now make up 15 to 20 percent of the program’s clients.
“I think the biggest thing is to hear that there are programs,” Zeltser said. “A lot of people come in much later after the diagnosis … The sooner we can try to treat, the better.”
Laura Zelser is a respiratory therapist at the MHC for the lungs at Misericordia Health Center. (Alana Cole / CBC)
Tarco hopes that research will provide more answers on how to treat long-term COVID.
She went through a lung rehabilitation program at Misericordia Health Center and is still doing the exercises she learned. She has seen some improvement, she said.
“I work on it all the time.”
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