O Anita Garibaldi Center for Health Education and Research (CEPS) – a reference in specialized care for maternal and child health and people with disabilities in Rio Grande do Norte – announced an unprecedented adaptation of services to deal with suspected cases of Coronavirus and lower-risk emergencies involving pregnant women and children.

The emergency care center installed for the first time in the Center in more than 10 years of operation will open from this Monday, the 23rd, to exclusively receive demand from Macaíba, in the Metropolitan Region.

The adaptation is being made to relieve the pressure on the city's main emergency service, UPA Aluízio Alves, in a context where there is a shortage of family health doctors and suspicions of infection by the new Coronavirus are increasing.

“The CEPS is a temporary extension of the UPA, which operates next door. We presented the proposal to the Municipal Health Department and the Department accepted it,” says the general director of the Santos Dumont Institute (ISD), Reginaldo Freitas Júnior.

“But the most important thing is to reinforce the recommendations of the Ministry of Health so that the population follows the guidelines for social isolation and only seeks health services in situations of real need. In the case of suspected Covid-19, the main warning sign is difficulty breathing, feeling short of breath,” adds the doctor and director of ISD.

The organization, funded by the Ministry of Education, manages CEPS and the Edmond and Lily Safra International Institute of Neuroscience (IIN-ELS), also in Macaíba.

Emergency care

A survey by ISD shows that the number of people passing through the UPA increased by almost 60% in the last week.

“We identified that 48% of the cases are considered non-serious and could be treated at the CEPS, relieving pressure on this service,” says Freitas Júnior.

“Health teams working in emergency services, such as the UPA,” he emphasizes, “need to focus their efforts on treating the most serious cases, classified as yellow and red risk.”

The population's rush for care, the doctor analyzes, is related to “misinformation, the feeling of collective panic due to the disease, the anxiety about knowing whether or not they are sick and what they should do, as well as deficiencies in medical coverage in their respective areas of coverage”.

“The strategy of operating as an emergency care unit aims to help the health system, trying to reduce the pressure at the UPA entrance,” he adds.

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With the adaptation of services, the CEPS will treat suspected cases of the so-called Covid-19 in pregnant women and children in the municipality, in addition to absorbing part of the “blue and green” demand – that is, cases considered less serious in the risk classification and that until then would enter the UPA.

Of the total demand that reaches the unit, 75% are adults and 25% are children, according to data released by the unit's director, Maria Célia Croisfelt Santos.

The usual average number of appointments went from 140 to 220 per day in the last week, with 48% with the green and blue risk classification that CEPS will help to receive.

Services

“We will receive pregnant women and children who fall into these cases. Women and men with other complaints will continue to be treated by the UPA,” notes Freitas Júnior.

Obstetric and pediatric operations for this purpose will take place from 8 am to 5 pm, the Center's normal operating hours, with a minimum number of professionals on the team.

“We will have an obstetrician, a pediatrician, a team on call to perform ultrasounds, when indicated, and a diagnostic structure with a laboratory trying to provide quick responses to test results,” explains the ISD general director, adding that nursing professionals, nursing technicians and a minimum administrative support team, in roles such as receiving users, will also be on standby.

Spaces such as the Center's auditorium and library were adapted to serve users.

In waiting areas, work will be carried out to ensure at least one meter of distance between them, in accordance with the recommendations of health authorities to reduce possible risks of contagion by the new Coronavirus.

The CEPS

Today, CEPS operates as an ISD school unit to train professionals in maternal and child health care and healthcare for people with disabilities.

It is the practical field of activity for students of the Multiprofessional Residency, both in-house and in partnership with the Medical and Multiprofessional Residencies of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (UFRN).

The number of consultations per year exceeds 45 thousand, in areas related to prenatal care and others aimed at adults and children with conditions such as epilepsy; Parkinson's; autism spectrum disorder (ASD); spinal cord injury; microcephaly; hearing impairment; prematurity and neurogenic bladder.

The services offered are normally elective, that is, scheduled on a scheduled day, and are not considered urgent or emergency.

Since last week, some of them, as well as in-person group activities, have been suspended among other measures adopted by the ISD as a prevention measure against the new Coronavirus.

At the clinics, care has only been provided in exceptional cases. “Only high-risk prenatal care and high-risk pediatrics, which have always been the profile of our demand, are operating because they are real priorities,” explains the Institute’s general director. “We need to maintain these services so that the health system is not further overloaded.”

The services are exclusively intended for users of the Unified Health System (SUS) and appointments, in these cases, are made through referrals made by Basic Health Units.