Greenwood Leflore Hospital is one of 27 medical centers statewide that have been selected by the state Department of Health as a COVID-19 Center of Excellence.
The hospital is pleased by the designation because it deepens and broadens its ability to help address the pandemic among the people it serves. The Health Department announced the designations Thursday.
Natalie Mainelli, the hospital’s director of pharmacy and COVID-19 vaccine coordinator, said the designation creates a partnership with the Health Department in supporting “the community and surrounding areas by executing our plan of providing COVID-19 vaccines to members of the public when vaccine supply is available.”
The overall plan, she said, includes safely vaccinating “those at elevated risk due to a history of anaphylaxis (a severe allergic reaction), providing monoclonal antibody treatment to eligible community members through orders from local physicians and referrals from local physicians and working to fill any vaccination gaps within our local community including racial and ethnic minorities, home-bound individuals and people living in long-term care settings.”
The Health Department described COVID-19 monoclonal antibody treatment as “a therapeutic infusion to reduce the severity of the disease.”
“The monoclonal antibody treatment provided to COVID-19 positive patients keeps them from having serious complications from the virus,” explained Dr. Jeff Moses, an emergency room physician at Greenwood Leflore. “Not only do COVID-19 positive patients from Leflore County benefit from the monoclonal antibody treatment that we provide in our Emergency Department, but also patients from surrounding counties that are referred by their physicians to our hospital for the treatment.”
“We are incredibly proud that these health systems have stood up to arm their communities with additional vaccination and treatment efforts in the fight against COVID-19,” said Dr. Thomas Dobbs, state health officer. “With the help of these Centers of Excellence, we can reach important populations that might not be otherwise served through our traditional drive-through clinics.”
• Contact Susan Montgomery at smontgomery@gwcommonwealth.com.
