After contracting a COVID-19 infection, Nate Freeman lost hope as symptoms of long COVID lingered well after his infection. A support group for long COVID patients that began meeting this year gave him hope for the first time since he fell ill. As many struggling with addiction go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings to find community, Freeman sees parallels between addiction recovery and long COVID recovery.
“You have to recognize that I’m dealing with something that I can’t control,” Freeman said. “I need to get help. I need to ask for help.
I need to not do it alone.” The Long COVID Informational, Discussion and Support group meets for two hours monthly in the Longs Peak Conference Room at UCHealth Medical Center of the Rockies, 2500 Rocky Mountain Ave., in Loveland.
The group’s facilitators welcome virtual attendees with an understanding that some people may not be able to attend in person. Dr. Matthew Light, a pulmonary disease and critical care medicine specialist for UCHealth Pulmonology Clinic in Greeley and Loveland, manages patients in northern Colorado with long COVID.
Hearing his patients’ individual long COVID stories made him think about the benefits of putting a group with shared experience into the same room. Light then decided to start the support group, acquiring the help of Michaela Martinez, a registered nurse and clinical educator with UCHealth. The two have long COVID themselves, so they can relate to and understand what patients are going th.
