In 1958, UAB Hospital Nurse Vivian Brown trained hospital staff to use a tank ventilator, more commonly known as an iron lung, a mechanical respirator that encloses the majority of a person’s body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing.
To sustain respiratory health during the coronavirus pandemic, UAB opened an interdisciplinary clinic to treat patients diagnosed with COVID-19. The COVID Respiratory Clinic, which is open to UAB Medicine patients who test positive for coronavirus and are experiencing progressive symptoms at home, will help identify patients who need to be admitted to the hospital.
“This clinic will keep patients from having to go to the emergency room, where wait times can cause delays in evaluation and also place other patients at risk for COVID-19 infection,” said Turner Overton, M.D., professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, which operates the clinic.
To learn more, read the story on UAB News.