Antibody treatment availability increasing for Covid patients in El Paso
EL PASO, Texas -- The Hospitals Of Providence is not the only health provider offering monoclonal antibody infusions for patients suffering Covid-19 symptoms in El Paso.
That’s contrary to what city leaders were told by city staff last week.
According to a spokesperson with BorderRAC, it turns out you can get an infusion at several emergency rooms in El Paso.
ABC-7 received several emails from viewers saying they had to wait a long time to hear back from THOP to get a monoclonal antibody infusion, so they went out and found other emergency rooms to get that infusion. One of those is Sun City Emergency Room.
According to Wanda Helgesen with BorderRAC, while THOP is the main site for outpatient infusions, all emergency departments have a small amount of infusions on hand.
She added, though, that emergency departments are overwhelmed right now with patients seeking infusions, as is THOP.
Helgesen said she understands wait times can be lengthy for people trying to get an infusion, and added that the group is in the process of increasing the capacity for people waiting to get an infusion.
Helgesen recommended that if you absolutely need an infusion, head to an emergency department to get one.
"I think we just sort of innately know when we need to go to an emergency department and when we should seek that at an outpatient center. Right now they have 15 chairs and we're gonna go to 25," said Helgesen.
She said extra infusion devices are being moved into Providence Memorial this week - and indicated they hope to have additional staffing by next week to meet the needs of increased capacity.
