Windsor, ON: As a specialty hospital in Windsor-Essex with a priority focus on both rehabilitation and mental health and addictions, Hôtel-Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) is thrilled to be launching a COVID Recovery Program to serve the Windsor-Essex community.
The COVID Recovery Program (CRP) offers individualized education, treatment and supports for patients who are experiencing any number of chronic conditions associated following a diagnosis of COVID-19. This includes any condition that is impacting the quality of an individual’s life, whether it be physical or emotional.
The goal of this program is to reduce the burden of disability, maximize functioning and improve quality of life by detecting and treating reversible conditions and recommending optimal management of chronic conditions associated with a diagnosis of COVID-19. The CRP education, treatment and support are provided by interprofessional teams of health professionals in an outpatient setting at HDGH.
“As we look at a post-pandemic world, we must acknowledge that many of us will be affected by this pandemic for years to come. This program that we have developed is built upon a number of foundational programs that HDGH has been operating at our Prince Road location,” explains Jason Petro, Manager of Ambulatory Services at HDGH. “What was important for our team when developing this program was to ensure that we as an organization were not only addressing the physical, but also the emotional needs of those individuals who are experiencing the long hauler effects of a COVID-19 diagnosis.”
Patients can be referred to the CRP through their Primary Care Physician and through the Acute Care hospital system. Domenic Scandale, an outpatient at HDGH, explains how beneficial this program has been as part of his COVID-19 recovery, “I can’t even believe the difference between what I couldn’t do 16 weeks ago and how I can now do it today. It plays in your mind when you have always been athletic and now you are stiff and cannot do any of the things you love to do or have to do. Getting back to some of these things has been very very helpful.”
