A B.C. medical organization with Okanagan roots says it was recently included in a global study to find better treatments for COVID-19.
The Medical Arts Health Research Group, which has its head office in Penticton, says Okanagan patients will benefit from its recent inclusion in the study with the National Institute of Health (NIH).
“What this announcement means for patients in the Okanagan, is that they will be able to get treatments that are typically done in Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary, locally,” the Medical Arts Health Research Group said in a press release.
The organization also has offices in Kelowna, North Vancouver and West Vancouver.
“The whole design of this is to find treatments for COVID-19 positive patients that do not require hospitalization,” said Lindsey Hovey, operations manager for Medical Arts Research Health Group.
“With this treatment we are providing to the community, we can anticipate that the entire South Okanagan region could see a decrease in severe cases of COVID-19.”
Hovey noted that “with the studies that we have, the more experience we have, the more options we are able to bring to patients in British Columbia. The faster we can get patients in, the faster we can get patients analyzed to draw conclusions to see if the intervention is working.”
Hovey says the requirements of the study is that a patient must be symptomatic and had a positive COVID-19 test in the past 10 days.
“It cannot be a previous infection that has resolved,” she added.
Medical Arts Health Research Group owner Donna Benson added “the work being done with COVID-19 is demonstrating how (research) timelines can be reduced when patients, academics, industry and government are all working together.”
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