CARES Act-funded temporary monoclonal antibodies sites set in SE Missouri

Temporary locations in Scott and Butler counties will be operating by the weekend to infuse diagnosed COVID-19 sufferers with monoclonal antibodies (MAB) in a state-funded attempt to try to keep the afflicted out of hospitals.

"(The state) is working with a contractor that does these (infusions) all across the country," Jane Wernsman, director of the Cape Girardeau County Public Health Center said Monday. "(The group) brings in all of the equipment and staff. They asked health officials all over Southeast Missouri to try to identify the areas of greatest need. The Sikeston area and Poplar Bluff were identified as the most critical areas in the region."

Wernsman said Saint Francis Medical Center and SoutheastHEALTH are already doing these infusions.

"We're very fortunate to have those (infusions) right here in Cape Girardeau. Other areas in our region may not have all of the health care resources and there was an interest in areas that have reported lower vaccination rates," she said.

Miner MBA site

Diana Knutson, a registered nurse with the Scott County Health Department, said an infusion site is expected to be up and running Friday at the Miner, Missouri, Nursing Center, 410 Route H. Although all the details are still being worked out, Knutson said the site will be open 12 hours a day, seven days a week for a 30-day period with 20 patients per day anticipated.

"The infusions should take a minimum of 30 minutes. Appointments will be required and a patient will need a physician's order," Knutson said Tuesday.

Sharon Urhahn, director of marketing for Missouri Delta Medical Center in Sikeston, Missouri, said some prequalifications must be met in order to receive the MAB infusion.

"You can't just go and get the infusion," Urhahn said. "If someone has COVID and is interested in receiving the monoclonal antibody, they need to call their primary care doctor but the physician may not yet be aware of the procedures because the information was just released Tuesday."

The guidelines include but are not limited to the following: the patient must be 65 years of age or older and must have a body mass index of 25 or over.

"If you meet the standard, the physician will make the infusion order and start the paperwork and then the contractor will contact the patient directly," she said, adding if a person doesn't have a primary care doctor, the protocol is to call the county health department who will give the patient direction.

Poplar Bluff MBA site

Robbie Myers, director of the Butler County Emergency Management Agency in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, said the same criteria and arrangements will apply to the temporary infusion site at the Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center -- Westwood campus.

"We'll be a day or two behind Sikeston, starting either Sunday or Monday, and we'll be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.," he said.

Texas-based SLS is the contractor hired by the state to perform the infusions.

"We hope to catch folks within the first 10 days of being diagnosed with a goal of keeping folks from needing hospital care," Myers said.

"We saw growing numbers and hot spots (and) our regional health care coalition helped to determine the best locations by looking at where the numbers were as well as the capacity of other places, such as Cape Girardeau."

Drilling down

"Miner and Poplar Bluff are among a series of strategically located, state-funded MAB sites in Missouri operating for 30 days each. Monoclonal antibodies are proteins helping the body fight off COVID-19 and reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization, if administered to high-risk patients soon after diagnosis," said an Aug. 11 news release from Gov. Mike Parson's office. The governor said the sites will be able to treat 2,000 patients across Missouri.

Mark Winkler, emergency management agency director for Cape Girardeau County, told the County Commission Monday these "stand-up sites" are for people diagnosed with COVID in a concerted effort to avoid hospitalization.

"Yes, that's exactly what these (infusions) are," confirmed Autumn Grim, an epidemiologist and assistant director of Cape Girardeau County's Public Health Center.

"The idea is if you can get someone transfused pretty quickly then it prevents those really bad outcomes such as hospitalization or even death. They use antibodies from people who've had COVID and survived -- and those are infused into a current COVID sufferer. That's an oversimplification of the process but essentially accurate. The recipient's immune system will then mount a response (to the infusion)."

Kelli Jones, communications director for Gov. Parson, confirmed to the Southeast Missourian the infusion is free for people who have a physician's order.

Jones also said the state will not use general revenue funds.

According to Parson's news release, the state will commit $15 million of federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act money to fund all the MAB sites across Missouri.