Page 12 - Mecklenburg_Medicine_July-August-2020

At the Hospitals
n Atrium Health Offers ‘COVID-Safe
for Employers’ to Promote
Workplace Safety
Atrium Health is offering “COVID-Safe
for Employers” solutions to organizations and
companies, as well as high-quality and reliable
antibody testing across the Charlotte region, to
decrease the economic impact of the pandemic.
The effort is helping organizations promote safe
workplaces by providing critical assistance with
planning, screening and testing.
Through “COVID-Safe for Employers,”
Atrium Health assisted businesses as they
re-opened and also is supplying educational
materials and treatments, as well as guidance
on policies for employees who may have been
exposed to COVID-19 at work.
Atrium Health also is providing fast, reliable
and high-quality antibody testing to determine if
a person previously had COVID-19, as one of the
only health systems in the nation to have its own
in-house lab. Test results typically are available
within 24 hours, up to three days faster than
others, and will be easy for patients to access as
part of their online health record, or as part of the
MyAtriumHealth app.
As Atrium Health expanded its services for all
patients, it added extensive safety measures and
initiatives to provide peace of mind to patients
by establishing “COVID-Safe” care standards
for all its locations. “COVID-Safe” builds on
Atrium Health’s clinical expertise to contain
the disease and ensure the safest environment
possible at each healthcare location.
n Clinical Trial Tests Remdesivir as
COVID Treatment
Atrium Health was one of the first healthcare
systems in the region — and the first in
Charlotte — to offer Remdesivir to critically ill
patients with COVID-19.
After working closely with Gilead Sciences,
the manufacturer of Remdesivir, Atrium
Health was selected to participate in the drug’s
Expanded Access Program and was quickly
prepared to bring this trial to fruition for patients.
Gilead Sciences has determined 10 patients at
12 | July/August 2020 • Mecklenburg Medicine
a time can receive the drug at Atrium Health’s
Carolinas Medical Center. While all patients
from across the Atrium Health enterprise who
meet the criteria are candidates for the trial,
the therapy must be administered at Carolinas
Medical Center. Patients not currently in
Charlotte who qualify will be transferred.
Remdesivir is an anti-viral drug that was
originally developed by Gilead Sciences as a
treatment for Ebola but has shown reasonable
activity against many different viruses, such
as COVID-19. Overall side effects of the drug
appear to be low.
n Former Holston Medical Group
Clinicians Join Atrium Health
Former Holston Medical Group (HMG)
physicians have joined the Atrium Health
family in newly-formed practices called One
Health Family Medicine and One Health OB/
GYN, with multiple locations throughout the
Lake Norman and North Charlotte area.
In the midst of the ongoing pandemic and
state of emergency, HMG closed several
locations in these communities and terminated
their relationship with care providers, leaving
an estimated 70,000 patients without direct
access to primary or OB/GYN care. To protect
the health and well-being of these patients,
most of the former HMG physicians joined
Atrium Health and currently are providing
personalized care to patients.
“We’re very happy to welcome these providers
and their patients to Atrium Health,” says Scott
Rissmiller, MD, executive vice president and
chief physician executive for Atrium Health.
“These new clinicians and their patients can take
part in our nationally leading and fully integrated manufactured by Butterfly Network, Inc.
healthcare system that provides health, hope and
healing — for all.”
n Atrium Deploys World’s First
Portable Ultrasound Unit
Atrium Health is the first major health
system in the nation to put into wide practice
the world’s first portable, single-probe,
whole-body ultrasound device. The device
features a hand-held probe that connects to a
smartphone or tablet, allowing a physician to
quickly and safely examine various areas of
a patient’s body, whether in an exam room or
doing a home visit.
In addition to examinations, the device
helps clinicians with common procedures
like vascular access and putting in central
lines. Unlike an X-ray or CT, it does not
subject the patient to radiation and reduces
infection risk to hospital staff by bringing
imaging to the bedside.
Its small size and portability enables
healthcare practitioners to clean the device
safely and move between patients quickly,
which is not possible with other common
imaging technologies (e.g., large ultrasound
machines or other scanning machines).
The device is active at more than 30
high-priority Atrium Health locations, such
as COVID-19 testing centers, emergency
departments, intensive care units and Atrium
Health’s Sanger Heart & Vascular Institute.
It runs on a software platform designed
to simplify the ultrasound workflow and
works directly within existing systems, while
staying secure with cloud-based security
tools. Called the Butterfly iQ, the device is
The new portable ultrasound device can
be cleaned easily and allows physicians
to quickly move between patients.