Marcus Daly Viral Clinic in permanent location
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Marcus Daly Memorial Hospital has opened Marcus Daly Viral Clinic as an extension of Convenient Care.
Initially, the hospital created a temporary respiratory service, setting up a yellow tent in the hospital area, but since has established a permanent location on the north side of the hospital wing near the Emergency entrance.
MDMH Chief Medical Officer Dr. April Weinberger said the hospital set up the initial clinic in two weeks to address COVID-19 needs.
“We did a good job of addressing those immediate needs,” Weinberger said. “But the longer we stayed, the more we realized that some of the things we set up to address COVID symptoms were catching a lot of other viral symptoms as well and were just as good of practices to eliminate exposure and treat people with other viruses that we see throughout the course of the year.”
With the realization that COVID-19 may linger, along with the fact that the fall flu season will start again and other virus may come on stronger especially as children start school, the hospital realized its need for a permanent and long-term virus clinic. Having stricter protocols and the ability to separate patients results keeping communicable disease outside hospital clinics.