TAMPA, Fla. — What started out as a resource has become a lifeline.
The COCO Clinic or "COVID Confirmed Clinic" is an outpatient, telemedicine clinic operated almost entirely by fourth-year medical students and nurse practitioner students, a way for young medical minds in Tampa to alleviate the hospital load caused by the pandemic.
A partnership between the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County, the Morsani College of Medicine at the University of South Florida, and Tampa General Hospital, the COCO Clinic sets out to accomplish two main goals:
1) Make sure every coronavirus patient has access to healthcare: Uninsured and underprivileged people who contract COVID-19 could be left without a doctor or medical professional to turn to. That's where the clinic steps in to offer accessible and consistent medical guidance.
2) Do everything possible to keep infected people at home: Using technology, the staff at the clinic is able to reach people through telehealth practices either by phone or video chat. This model keeps an infected person at home in isolation while also prevents unnecessary use of hospital resources.
Initially, the clinic accepted patients from all over the state, but with the pandemic raging through Tampa Bay, they're now only accepting internal referrals.
With hospitals filling up, the COCO clinic is now vital in moving patients out to free up beds even if someone is not fully recovered.
"Patients are sicker than usual because hospitals are getting full and they have to discharge patients quickly and as such we have more patients on oxygen and vital monitoring at home," said Dr. Elimarys Perez-Colon, who supervises the Coco Clinic staff.
At the time of this article, The Florida Department of Health was reporting 17,562 positive residents in Hillsborough County.
While also helping patients, the clinic is able to provide research and more comprehensive data to the Department of Health.