London, Ont. long COVID-19 clinic helping jazz singer search for her voice
Global News
Wendi Heal, a professional jazz singer, contracted COVID-19 in late December 2020 and is still battling symptoms that make it difficult for her to perform.
A special clinic in London, Ont., is bringing multiple disciplines together to treat those experiencing symptoms long after first being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Wendi Heal, a professional jazz singer, contracted COVID-19 in late December 2020 before vaccination efforts began and she is still faced with symptoms that make it difficult for her to perform.
However, the experts at the post-acute COVID-19 program at St. Joseph’s Health Care London are helping to address Heal’s symptoms.
“I figured I am a healthy woman, I have no underlying conditions, and I should be fixed in two months which is what they told me when I left the hospital, but it kept getting more and worse,” Heal said.
“I could not even walk down the stairs, and my trying to do it was actually making things worse because I was pushing through to exhaustion.”
During her recovery, Heal said she struggled with fatigue that stopped her from walking far away, memory problems, and difficulties speaking due to memory issues and trouble breathing.
Heal, 69, was hospitalized roughly within a week after she started experiencing symptoms in December and narrowly avoided needing a ventilator. While she has been improving, her road to recovery is ongoing.
The long COVID-19 clinic at St. Joseph’s is in partnership with London Health Sciences Centre’s Urgent COVID Care Clinic (LUC3). Patients are seen at the clinic and then connected with specialists depending on what symptoms they are experiencing.