Post-COVID Comprehensive Assessment Recovery and Evaluation (CARE) Program
Treating Long-Term Effects of the Coronavirus
Helping Our Community with Post-COVID-19 Recovery
Since the beginning of the pandemic, we have cared for thousands of patients diagnosed with COVID-19. As it is a novel and extremely complex virus, the health care community is just learning about its long-term effects.
While many people recover from COVID-19 completely, there is a population of survivors who suffer from lingering side effects of the COVID-19. Their COVID recovery time seems to last longer than others'. These individuals are sometimes called “long-haulers,” and their symptoms interfere with their ability to recover and return to their prior life and activities.
To help people manage what has been called “post-COVID syndrome” or "long COVID," Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (formerly Saint Barnabas Medical Center) and RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group have collaborated to create the Post-COVID Comprehensive Assessment, Recovery and Evaluation (CARE) Program.
The program works in collaboration with an individual’s primary care physician to help with their COVID-19 recovery. It is a patient-centric care model that includes a robust patient navigation component.
You do not need a referral to participate in this program.
COVID-19 Recovery
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), common long-term symptoms of COVID include fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, joint pain, chest pain. Other long-term effects include difficulty with thinking and concentration (sometimes referred to as “brain fog”), depression, muscle pain, headache, intermittent fever and a fast-beating heart (heart palpitations).
Less common but more serious long-term complications that impair COVID-19 recovery include inflammation of the heart muscle, lung function abnormalities, acute kidney injury, dermatologic issues such as rashes and hair loss, smell and taste problems, sleep issues, difficulty with concentration, memory problems, and psychiatric problems such as depression, anxiety, and mood changes.
Under the leadership of Medical Director Vanessa Trespalacios, MD, an RWJBarnabas Health Medical Group internal medicine physician, and with a multidisciplinary team of physicians, this COVID-19 recovery program uses the latest information available to assist patients with COVID-19 recovery.
A Multidisciplinary Program
The residual impact of COVID-19 varies by individual and can affect different parts of the body. Our COVID-19 recovery program offers access to a broad range of experts from a variety of services including:
- Behavioral Health Services
- Cardiology
- Cardiac Rehabilitation
- Clinical Pharmacy
- Dentistry
- Internal Medicine
- Neurology (Multiple Sclerosis)
- Nurse Navigation
- Pediatrics
- Physiatry
- Physical, Speech, Occupational and Cognitive Rehabilitation
- Pulmonology
- Pulmonary Rehabilitation
- Radiology
- Respiratory Therapy
Our Nurse Navigator Will Guide You with Your COVID-19 Recovery
Our patient navigator serves as a single point of contact to help patients from their initial calls throughout treatment and into COVID-19 recovery. A navigator guides patients through their journeys to ensure that they receive care that exceeds expectations.
If you had COVID-19 and continue to experience lingering symptoms for more than four weeks after diagnosis or want to learn more about the COVID-19 recovery program, email at postcovidcare@rwjbh.org.
Location
The Post-COVID Comprehensive Assessment, Recovery and Evaluation (CARE) Program is located at:
RWJBarnabas Health Ambulatory Care Center
200 South Orange Ave.
Livingston, NJ 07039