90 | MAY 28 • 2020
D
r. Barry Feldman and
Michigan Healthcare
Professionals (MHP),
the group practice he co-found-
ed, set up a COVID-19 testing
clinic behind their office build-
ing in March and have since
tested more than 6,000 people.
Just like the rest of the world,
Feldman and his practice were
taken off guard by the COVID-
19 pandemic.
Because Feldman’
s primarily
older, sick patients are especial-
ly at-risk, he had to make an
important decision.
“We decided around mid-
March that we were going to
close our doors to patients and
go into a virtual lockdown, con-
ducting all of our business via
telemedicine,
” Feldman said.
Feldman then went a step
further. He and his wife Lesley,
who is also the practice’
s man-
ager, decided to set up a testing
clinic behind their office build-
ing in Farmington Hills.
Feldman immediately pro-
ceeded to recruit staff willing to
help with the rigorous testing
efforts. The clinic then rent-
ed an RV trailer, which holds
the needed electronics for the
testing process, and acquired
a drive-through tent which
protects the doctors from the
elements.
The doctors in the testing
clinic consist of Ryan Victor,
Jeffrey Provizer and Jeff Lipsky,
and their presence for the
testing also allows Feldman to
complete his administrative
duties throughout the day. All of
the doctors and administrators
in the clinic don full protective
gear.
As the testing clinic has
evolved, the process has been
cloned, with two more MHP
testing sites in Rochester and
Waterford. Additional medical
staff Elizabeth Owen, Barb
Hartman, Rhonda Davis, Eric
Davis, Jackie Crawford, Sarah
Dworetsky and Kelly Griffin
have been helping out with test-
ing at those sites. A liaison, Amy
Glasser, goes out to procure
equipment if a certain testing
site needs it, including anything
from tape to tents to RVs.
“These people are superstars,
”
Feldman said. “Rain, sleet, snow,
they show up every single day.
”
A philanthropic donor from
California (whom Feldman said
wished to not be named) donat-
ed protective gear, including 800
gowns and 700 masks to the
testing center, which Feldman
describes as invaluable.
Feldman and his practice
started the clinic on March 20,
testing about 60 patients a day.
At this point, the clinic is now
up to testing 120 people a day.
About 20 percent of the clinic’
s
testing has come back positive
for coronavirus.
A whiteboard displayed at
the clinic, consisting of all the
data compiled so far, is updated
every week. As of the week of
May 18, the MHP COVID-19
testing clinic has seen over 6,400
drive-through visits, treated
22,000 telemedicine encounters
and kept 1,830 people out of
emergency rooms and hospitals.
Feldman and his practice
are also currently working on
a research project that will be
published in the near future.
The project aims to alert people
that there will be individuals
returning to work soon that are
totally asymptomatic yet have
the virus. In their limited study
of testing six industries so far,
roughly 10 percent of people in
the study have COVID-19 but
are asymptomatic.
Many individuals tested by
the clinic have inquired about
COVID-19 antibody testing,
but Feldman believes there’
s still
more questions than answers
about that.
“The problem with antibody
testing is that we don’
t quite
know what to do with that
yet,” Feldman explained. “We
don’
t know whether infection
from coronavirus gives you
long-term immunity. A nega-
tive immunoglobulin doesn’
t
mean you’
re virus-free. It just
means you haven’
t formed
immunoglobulins yet.”
Feldman holds firm that it
could take many months, if
not years, to come to a point
where the virus is understood
completely and where weap-
ons for both preventing it and
treating it have been devel-
oped. More than anything,
Feldman hopes for a cautious
and prudent return to a new
normal.
“
As anxious as I am to see our
economy and everything else get
going, I’
ve looked this monster
in the face, and I can tell you,
we don’
t want to go back there,
”
Feldman added. “We have to
be extremely careful in how we
start this locomotive because
once it gets rolling, it’
s hard to
stop.
”
Michigan Healthcare
Professionals Sets Up
COVID Testing Site
PHOTOS COURTESY OF MICHIGAN HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS
Out of the more than 6,000 tests
they’
ve conducted, about 20 percent
have been positive
DANNY SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Health