Belarusian Doctor: Patients Have Severe Psychological Traumas After Coronavirus

This is how those who have suffered from COVID-19 are treated near Homel.

Pneumonia caused by the coronavirus is treated in Homel region in the former children's sanatorium of Zhyvitsa in Chenki. The health resort has long been a regional children's clinical hospital for medical rehabilitation, and usually helps children with health problems. But now it is repurposed, and since April 30 received the first patients who suffered from pneumonia associated with COVID-19, kp.by writes.

An old man with bags is coming down the stairs from the main entrance and his son is holding him arm-in-arm. The pensioner has already undergone a rehabilitation course, and he has just been discharged home.

- When I came here after the infectious diseases hospital, I couldn't walk, such a weakness. And I had trouble with my throat, I had been coughing for a long time. They said in the hospital that they had the concept of "two minuses", that is, they discharged after two negative tests and sent here. It took them two weeks to get me back on my feet. The attitude of doctors and staff is very good and attentive, - Arseniy Yuras from Mazyr says. The man will turn 90 the next day! And before his retirement, he was headmaster for many years.

"CORONAVIRUS IS SMARTER THAN MAN - FOR NOW"

Liudmila Tortsiava, the chief physician of the hospital, told KP that the institution has already received about 170 patients, more than 80 have been discharged, almost half of them with recovery, the rest - with improvement. There are still lots of free beds at the hospital.

- We have been engaged in rehabilitation for 15 years, we have extensive experience. We are used to working with children, but when adults were sent to us, we all took it with understanding. There was no confusion. After all, there are a lot of methodological recommendations, the Health Ministry approved clinical protocols, which we are guided by," - the head doctor said.

The hospital's work is based on physical therapy, physiotherapy and massage. On top of that, there is obligatory psychological correction:

- The first thing we start rehabilitation with is a psychologist's consultation. We need to understand the patient's attitude to the disease, his motivation for active participation in rehabilitation, the desire to recover. Patients have severe psychological trauma, getting sick with coronavirus, so almost everyone has both personal and situational anxiety. After all, we are not the first hospital where they get into, for some of them - it's the third one. There's a psycho-emotional mood when people are annoyed by everything. They want to go home, they're tired of being in a hospital bed. But the peculiarity of our team is that we work with children. And some patients say that we really treat them like children.

After the psychologist, a rehabilitation doctor starts working with the patient, who determines which leading function of the body is affected by the disease:

- We treat the consequences. Respiratory functions are most often affected. This is expressed in shortness of breath, which remains for some time after treatment, for example, it is difficult to breathe while walking. Coughing can occur periodically. The tolerance to exercise has been reduced, that is, people can't walk or exercise for long, - the head doctor explains. - We also take into account that the cardiovascular system was in a state of hypoxia for a long time, that is, lack of oxygen. So, we need to help here, too, to do training.

The rehabilitation course is 14-18 days. Patients are sent here if there is a noticeable positive dynamics on the X-ray or CT, "two minus" or one minus and the diagnosis by express-test. "One minus" and "two minuses" are separated into different departments.

Liudmila Tortsiava calls for a calm attitude towards the coronavirus:

- It does not lead to disability. One shouldn't think that it can somehow undermine health catastrophically. Like any other viral pneumonia, it can cause complications. Even bacterial pneumonia is treated for three weeks. Part of the lung tissue has been affected, it needs to be repaired. Yeah, we don't know what happens next. The virus is subtle in its variability. It's smarter than a human - for now. Its self-preservation is highly developed. We're all going to develop immunity to coronavirus now, and then what happens next season? Those questions remain for now.

"REGRESS TO CHILDHOOD HERE!"

Current patients note that they're very happy with the rehabilitation. Aliaksandr from Homel has been here for ten days now:

- I have no idea how I got sick. Maybe in transport, in a store. Take the money in your hands, wipe your eyes - that's it. I wore a mask, washed my hands regularly. But one day I had to call an ambulance - the fever went up. After treatment at the hospital, I was urged to undergo a recovery procedure. The massage, inhalation, treatment by diathermy are very good here, for the first time I tried real acupuncture. There was a cough left, but most of it has already disappeared. I am very satisfied! We have treatment in the morning, then a walk around the territory in the afternoon. Excellent food. Today they gave us very tasty rassolnik for lunch, pasta with a big burger, good salad, real dried fruit compote - like in kindergarten, only bigger portions, of course. So sometimes I regress to childhood!

Uladzimir also suffered from double-sided inflammation, there was a cough:

- The most important thing is that the attitude of doctors and staff is very pleasant. If they do massage, it means a real massage. And the system of detecting coronavirus is our weak point. When I had a fever, coughing and no taste, I called a doctor at home. The doctor from our clinic came. I said, I feel like I'm sick with coronavirus, you should take a swab. The doctor didn't say anything, prescribed antibiotics and told me to come to an appointment. But the timely diagnosis means a lot. The cough didn't disappear, so I went to the clinic and got a fluorography done, simply, without a prescription. Five minutes later, it was reported that I had pneumonia. They sent me straight to the hospital from the polyclinic. If I'd been checked immediately and hospitalized, I think there'd have been fewer consequences. My wife tested positive. The other test was positive, too. The third test was done - she's been waiting for the result for 15 days. The period of self-isolation is over - so you can go out and infect others? A lot of people have already gone through the disease, and they do not know about it themselves.