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COVID infusion site now functional in Miner
MINER, Mo. — In an effort to help relieve hospital strain and health care worker fatigue, a temporary infusion site has been set up at Miner Nursing Center to treat patients with COVID-19 but also prevent hospitalizations and even death.
“This one (in Miner) will be functional on Friday and will have five infusion stations,” said Paula Nickelson, administrator of the Office of Emergency Coordination for the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, who was present Thursday as the Scott County site was set up in an unused wing of Miner Nursing Center.
Early this week the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, or DHSS, activated a state contract with SLSCO of Galveston, Texas, to provide monoclonal antibody, or mAb, infusion treatment for 30 days at sites in the following counties: Jackson, Pettis, Scott, Butler and Jefferson.
“Many hospitals have been doing these infusions on their own, but it’s putting so much stress on their staff and the location of where they are infused because the hospitals are so full,” said Ryan Parker, director of pharmacy at Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston. “That’s why it’s been helpful for the state to come in and assist with the volume of patients hospitals are seeing.”
This contract follows Gov. Mike Parson’s Aug. 11 announcement that $15 million would be committed to staffing, equipment and supplies for the establishment of monoclonal antibody infusion stations across the state.
“Theoretically, we think the monoclonal infusions are how we are going to get ahead of our hospitalizations. This is the only way to get upstream of it,” Nickelson said.
Six weeks ago MDHSS opened a 10-bed infusion site with the Disaster Medical Assistance Team of Southwest Missouri in Springfield, where COVID cases were at a major surge, she said.
“It’s closing down this week and that got us thinking about how we need to expand in the state,” Nickelson said. “There are certainly a number of providers around the state doing infusions without state assistance, but this is one way we can help hospitals.”
According to Nickelson, infusions began Wednesday at Truman Medical Center, where there are eight infusion stations. A six-station infusion site is also set up at Bothwell Regional Medical Center in Sedalia, which also became functional on Wednesday.
An infusion site is also being set up on Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center’s west campus, where five stations were expected to be functional starting Saturday, Nickelson said. There are also two sites in the Greater St. Louis area — one at Mercy Hospital-Jefferson in Festus and one at Affinia Healthcare in the city.
“We’ve been very impressed with SLS,” Nickelson said. “They’re extremely quick and professional. They’ve been on-site within 72 hours of activating a contract for a site, and they’re usually functional by the fifth day.”
Site selection was made in conjunction with regional and local partners, Nickelson said. The state estimates the sites could treat up to 4,000 patients across the state in the 30-day timeframe.
Nickelson said a number of criteria was considered when choosing the sites, but ultimately they looked at data, such as positivity rates by county, hospitalizations and ICU capacity; and the other factor was community readiness.
Eric Slaughter, infection prevention/safety and emergency preparedness coordinator for Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, said other locations in the county were considered but some had bookings over the next 30 days. It so happened a wing wasn’t being used at the Miner Nursing Center and with it being located just off the interstate, it was ideal for the site.
The infusion site at Miner has the potential to complete 20 infusions per day, seven days a week for a
potential total of 140 infusions per week.
“There’s no way we could do this kind of volume on our own,” Parker said.
In the past three weeks, Missouri Delta has averaged 20-23 infusions per week.
Hospitals in this region and throughout the state face similar surges so patient transfers aren’t being made at this time, Nickelson noted.
Monoclonal antibodies are given by IV to people diagnosed with COVID-19. This therapy uses COVID-19 antibodies to help a person’s body fight off the infection. Research suggests these antibodies lower the amount of virus — the “viral load” — in a person’s body. People with lower viral loads have more mild symptoms. Reducing the viral load may help prevent hospitalization and death.
“A monoclonal antibody is basically a synthetic antibody to something,” Parker said. “We use them to treat all kinds of health conditions. This specific one attaches itself to the virus and make the virus inactive. If you get rid of the virus, symptoms will lessen.”
Infusion therapy is also used in treatments for rheumatoid arthritis and certain types of chemotherapy, he said.
“The infusion treatment offered at the Miner site is targeting mild to moderate COVID patients who are at high-risk of developing severe symptoms,” Parker said.
Each infusion takes about two hours for the patient.
“The infusion itself is only 20 minutes and we wait an hour after that for them to be monitored,” Slaughter said, adding an hour is allotted to clean up each station in between patients.
Those who’ve received infusions have had positive feedback.
“Anecdotally, one person said: I feel better right now. I also had one call me the next day and said: “I feel like Superman,” Slaughter said.
Patients typically notice a difference within 12- to 24-hours after receiving the infusion, Slaughter said.
“The Emergency Use Authorization” authority defines who is treated, and it’s set up by the federal government, Parker said. The state has a standing order at this point that will mimic that with the inclusion criteria. Patients will be screened based on on clinical criteria defined in the EUA, he said.
Patients still need to be screened medically by their physical healthcare providers who can refer them to the infusion site.
The purpose of the state establishing the infusion sites is to streamline the process for treatment, Parker said. The services are offered at no charge and available to anyone as well as unvaccinated and vaccinated patients.
If someone is traveling from another state, they can be infused at the site in Miner, Nickelson added.
“If you’re in high-risk category, you can still get the antibody infusion. It will improve your outcome,” Slaughter said.
The goal with the infusion treatment is to decrease the number of hospitalizations and deaths related to COVID, Parker said.
“We want to prevent those severe COVID cases,” Parker said. “So by us having the infusion site, we could save a life by them not being hospitalized later.”