St. Luke’s Warren Participates Successfully in Experimental COVID-19 Plasma Trial

Seeking Plasma Donors.

A COVID-19 patient who was on a ventilator at St. Luke’s Warren Campus is on the road to recovery after successful extubation that followed an experimental blood plasma treatment.

The patient’s treatment was part of a nationwide expanded access treatment protocol overseen by the Mayo Clinic. Convalescent plasma (the liquid part of blood) from a person who recovered from COVID-19 contains antibodies that may provide a powerful boost to someone else fighting the viral infection.

“Our Warren Campus is proud to be part of St. Luke’s University Health Network’s participation in this national effort to develop a COVID-19 treatment,” said St. Luke’s Warren Campus President Scott R. Wolfe. “It exemplifies the importance of ingenuity and perseverance to support the heroic, life-saving work of our physicians, nurses and other caregivers.”

Convalescent plasma has a long track record, having been used as a treatment during the Spanish Flu, SARS an Ebola outbreaks. More recently, it appeared to be helpful in a small study of COVID-19 patients from China.

“St. Luke’s participation in this blood plasma trial will help advance the medical community’s understanding of how best to treat COVID-19 patients,” St. Luke’s Infectious Disease Section Chief Dr. Peter Ender said. “Because of the lack of proven treatments for this life-threatening infection, novel approaches are needed.” Have you or your loved one contracted COVID-19? YOU CAN HELP!

“In order for the convalescent plasma program to be successful and allow us to help the greatest number of patients, we really need the help of all of our recovered patients,” St. Luke’s Anesthesiologist Eric Tesoriero, DO, said.

Every day is a good day to donate blood and help save a life, but if you are a COVID-19 recoveree, your community has never needed you more! If you think you may be a candidate for donation, please contact Liz Nivar at St. Luke's Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates (484-503-0350). One of our providers will complete the paperwork necessary for Miller-Keystone Blood Center to proceed.

For more information about plasma, please visit https://covidplasma.org/

###

Media Contact

Sam Kennedy, Corporate Communications Director, 484-526-4134, samuel.kennedy@sluhn.org

About St. Luke’s

Founded in 1872, St. Luke’s University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke’s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania. In partnership with Temple University, St. Luke’s created the Lehigh Valley’s first and only regional medical school campus. It also operates the nation’s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 34 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with 263 residents and fellows. St. Luke’s is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system with Medicare’s five- and four-star ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction. St. Luke’s is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades Top Hospital and a Newsweek World’s Best Hospital. In 2019, three of IBM Watson Health’s 100 Top Hospitals were St. Luke’s hospitals. St. Luke’s University Hospital has earned the 100 Top Major Teaching Hospital designation from IBM Watson Health seven times total and five years in a row. St. Luke’s has also been cited by IBM Watson Health as a 50 Top Cardiovascular Program. Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the Most Wired award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN’s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. St. Luke’s is also recognized as one of the state’s lowest cost providers.