In November 2020 we offered a virtual meeting on the Psychological Impact of Covid-19 after 6-8 months of quarantine and having schools and colleges closed to on campus activities. Professional, college, and high school sports were cancelled and teams were dealing with being in a bubble for the remainder of their seasons. Games were often postponed due to coronavirus exposure and contact tracing. It is now known that the virus has significant potential to impact all organ systems in the body – including the heart, lungs, kidneys and brain. For this post I am talking about the impact of long haul covid recovered cases of individuals who go on to experience cognitive symptoms for weeks or months. Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital has asked that SLP Lauren Guenon and I put together a presentation bringing to light what one might expect for those who are still having symptoms weeks later and what they can do about it.

There are potential long-term problems and short term issues people can expect when they are discharged from the hospital. I hope you will join us for the upcoming presentations that joins the Speech Language Pathology service and the Neuropsychological service in a hard look at the virus and it cognitive and psychological impact. Even people who had minimal symptoms and were never hospitalized are experiencing fatigue and “brain fog” as they get ready to return to work. They may be markedly debilitated and in need of rehabilitation like physical therapy, occupational therapy and now, we are seeing a need for cognitive rehabilitation provided by speech language pathologists and neuropsychologists alike. If you are interested in this topic or experiencing lingering symptoms, I hope you will join us either in person or on a live stream zoom event on May 20, 2021 at 7:00 PM.

Below is a post from my Concussion Assessment website. It pertains to all that is cognitive. We are planning both an in person learning opportunity over lunch at our hospital and a live zoom event in later May 20, 2021 at 7 PM. If interested in this important topic please contact Joanne Swiderski at her email: jswiderski@whittierhealth.com

https://concussionassessment.wordpress.com/2021/04/29/the-coronavirus-and-its-impact-on-cognitive-functioning-in-long-haul-cases-of-covid-19-recovery/

I look forward to meeting and hearing from a lot of the readers from here in Massachsetts.

Michael Sefton, Ph.D.