In-Home Medical Care Is A Growing Option For Those Who Are Sick But Hate Hospitals.

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2021-05-20 13:56:47

Late last year, Janet Yetenekian got seriously ill with COVID-19, sick enough to warrant going to the hospital. But instead, the hospital came to her. She got medical care in her own home in Glendale, Calif.

"It was even better than the hospital," Yetenekian laughs. "They were constantly reaching out — it's time for you to do your vitals, or it's time for you to take your medications."

Yetenekian contracted the coronavirus in December after friends invited her family to an afternoon barbecue. It seemed like a safe antidote to pandemic isolation. But the day after the gathering, the host came down with a fever. A test confirmed it was COVID-19.

Within two weeks, Yetenekian's husband and two teenage children got mild cases of the disease. She came down with a more serious case, however, and her blood oxygen plummeted to dangerously low levels.

She went to the hospital at Adventist Health in Glendale, where doctors told her she would need an intravenous infusion of the antiviral drug remdesivir and constant monitoring. And it surprised Yetenekian when her doctor offered to move all her care home to be monitored virtually.