Mansfield (December 10, 2020)– OhioHealth is excited to begin OhioHealth Specialty Infusion Services, including home services and locations at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and OhioHealth Marion Hospital.
The outpatient specialty infusions will be used solely for COVID-19 infusion of FDA emergency use authorized monoclonal antibodies treatments, targeting patients with mild to moderate forms of COVID-19 in high-risk patients. These patients meet very specific criteria for the treatment, then a provider connects them with teams to perform the infusions either at the infusion location, or in the patient’s home.
OhioHealth started offering this service through OhioHealth At Home's Advanced Home Services in counties such as Richland, Ashland, Crawford, Morrow and Knox counties.
“As we continue to combat the rapid and rising spread of COVID-19, monoclonal antibody infusion has the potential to keep high risk individuals with COVID-19 out of the hospital,” Dr. Gavin Baumgardner, vice president of medical affairs at OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital and OhioHealth Shelby Hospital. “We also ask the communities we serve to continue to do the things we know to be effective to help slow the spread of COVID-19: wear a mask over the mouth and nose, avoid gatherings of more than 10 people, and wash your hands frequently. We all have to work together to keep each other and our community safe.”
The infusion treatment involves giving monoclonal antibodies as a single dose via IV administration. According to Katie Toopes, director of OhioHealth At Home, Home Health, the treatment decreases a patient's viral load that may lower the chance of disease progression and hospitalization according to published studies.
If given early, this therapy can be an important treatment to help keep high risk individuals with COVID-19 out of the hospital. The infusion process takes about three hours — an hour for set up, an hour for the transfusion and an hour for observation, according to Dr. Joseph Gastaldo, OhioHealth medical director of infectious diseases.
“We know that this treatment is generally well tolerated by patients; having the ability to do this in an outpatient setting, keeping these patients out of the hospital, and easing the load for our frontline hospital staff will be ultimately better for them, and the patient,” Dr. Gastaldo said.
About OhioHealth
OhioHealth is a nationally recognized, not-for-profit, charitable, healthcare outreach of the United Methodist Church.
Based in Columbus, Ohio, OhioHealth has been recognized as one of the top five large health systems in America by Truven Health Analytics, an honor it has received six times. It was also recognized by FORTUNE as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For” for 13 years in a row, 2007-2019.
Serving its communities since 1891, it is a family of 35,000 associates, physicians and volunteers, and a network of 12 hospitals, 200+ ambulatory sites, hospice, home-health, medical equipment and other health services spanning a 47-county area.
OhioHealth hospitals include OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Grant Medical Center, OhioHealth Doctors Hospital, OhioHealth Grady Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Dublin Methodist Hospital, OhioHealth Hardin Memorial Hospital, OhioHealth Marion General Hospital, OhioHealth O’Bleness Hospital, OhioHealth Mansfield Hospital, OhioHealth Shelby Hospital, OhioHealth Grove City Methodist Hospital and OhioHealth Berger Hospital. For more information, please visit our website atwww.ohiohealth.com.