ODESSA, Texas —
Medical Center Hospital, the City of Odessa, Ector County and the State of Texas, through the Texas Division of Emergency Management, are coming together to provide a Regeneron Infusion Center in Odessa at MCH.
The center will be located at One Doctors Place, Suite 700, 500 N Washington Street. It is set to open Friday at 1 p.m. and will be open from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday moving forward.
"If we can get the Regeneron therapy out to the public and into the arms of people that really really need it, then its going to help them get better faster it's going to make them feel better and keep them out of the hospital," said Amanda Everett, Medical Center Hospital's Emergency Management Coordinator.
Services at the center will be free of charge and the entire process takes about 90 minutes.
"Each appointment lasts about two hours because you're going to receive the therapy for about 30 minutes and then we're going to watch you and monitor you for an hour after," said Everett.
Regeneron is a monoclonal antibody therapy made up of two different medications, casirivimab and imdevimab. Monoclonal antibodies are lab-made proteins that mimic the immune system’s ability to fight off viruses, according to a press release from MCH.
The treatment can help prevent hospitalization and ease symptoms of COVID-19 in people who have tested positive for the virus and could be hospitalized.
"It's also going to help us as a community get over this surge that were having right now a little bit faster and then it's going to help decompress the hospital a little bit," said Everett.
To get an appointment at the center, a patient must be referred by a provider who confirms their patient could benefit from the infusion. The provider can then make an appointment by calling 432-640-2022 or emailing documentation to covidinfusioncenter@echd.org.