Stephie Byars and her husband were in a Giant Eagle parking lot when they received the Allegheny Alert.
“We switched off the car. “I had my husband call his parents on his phone and put it on the loudspeaker, and I went to my cellphone and did the technological stuff,” said Byars (37) from Dravosburg.
Appointments were open at the province’s vaccine distribution site in Monroeville. The Byars family was just one of thousands who rushed to be reported.
When she chatted with her in-laws, both in their 70s, she went through the health department’s online login page on her own phone and zoomed in on the form, noting how the site was lagging behind as she tried to go through the process.
She successfully made an appointment with her father-in-law for February 12th. When she navigated back to the beginning of the form, she started again with her mother-in-law. It was too late. Within minutes, all the slots were filled.
In the Pittsburgh area and across the country, young and millennial residents are describing everything they have to give up to help their elderly relatives sign up for the covid-19 vaccine – which is only available via online forms. Many older residents of Western Pennsylvania say they do not have computers or Internet access, or that they are not technically literate to navigate the process.
“The accessibility for people who are older and not technically proficient,” Byars said, “finds me really lacking.”
Byars said her in-laws have a computer and an iPad, but they are not familiar with the technology. She said they had not even seen the confirmation email for the appointment because her mother-in-law did not know how to access her email.
“I think it’s just hard for us to do it – it’s a generational thing,” said Tamara Thomas, 70, Byars’ mother-in-law, who has been hiding for almost a year. “We can not navigate as they want.”
Thomas said she is grateful she has children who can help.
“I think they forget that those of us who are older do not have the same tools,” Thomas said.
Lawyers and family members say the problem goes beyond the inconvenience. The abundance of providers, each with their own registration system and login, create a system that is difficult to navigate for even the most tech-savvy residents. The map of vaccine providers available on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website contains a list of many pharmacies that, upon further investigation, do not actually have vaccines. Family members say they are struggling to balance their own full-time job and worry by calling dozens of vaccine providers, spending hours and starting over crowded websites.
For older residents with little technology experience, it is impossible to think of such a task. Bill Johnson-Walsh, the state director of AARP in Pennsylvania, said there are many residents who have no device access, and if they do, it’s usually just communicating with their grandchildren or playing games.
“It’s nationwide,” Johnson-Walsh said. ‘The frustration, the confusion that’s going on. We’ve seen a few hundred calls over the last few weeks and just asked for help. ”
In a letter to Gov. Tom Wolf, Johnson-Walsh and AARP recommend a centralized 800 number that people should call to answer their questions, a system in which a real person can guide them through the process. Johnson-Walsh understands the state’s decentralized approach to the distribution of vaccines – and allows independent hospitals and other providers to administer doses themselves – but for many of the state’s residents who are at greatest risk, the lack of accessible information life-saving vaccine out of reach.
“To make sure the mortality rate goes down, we need to be able to vaccinate those who are at the greatest risk,” he said.
April Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said the department has an 877 information line that people can ask for questions about the process, but eventually the appointment will be online. The Area Agencies for Aging, of the Department of Aging, are also working to reach older residents in their communities, she said.
“It’s not going to be one agency that can make it all easier,” she said. ‘This is the biggest vaccination attempt that has happened in this state and in this country in our history. This is going to take us all to help through the vaccination process. ”
In Allegheny County, officials on Wednesday acknowledged problems with the health department’s current system. Dr Debra Bogen, province’s health director, said the department was working on plans to deliver vaccines to high altitudes and similar communities, to improve the site to prevent it from crashing and to set up a telephone registration line.
‘I know it’s a disadvantage for those who do not have access to the Internet, those who can not navigate through the difficult registration sites, and those who can not look at a computer all day and click on links in the hope to get an appointment, ”said Bogen.
Meanwhile, she asked that residents help each other navigate the current process.
“It would be great if you could help your parents, help your grandparents and help your neighbors,” Bogen said. ‘I know the online registration system can be confusing to navigate, even if you’re a little computer savvy. So imagine that you are not computer literate. ”
Many are already doing so, but it is not a sustainable strategy. Jerilyn Scott, a teacher at Sewickley, said she had called large and small suppliers – from Giant Eagle and Rite Aid to local independent pharmacies and the health systems in the region – hoping to get vaccinated for her 82-year-old mother. gain.
“Even for me, it’s a hassle to try to navigate,” Scott said.
Scott described a maze of websites and links and conflicting information from various agencies on how to arrange a vaccine appointment. She said she made regular contact with suppliers indicated on the Allegheny County map because they only have vaccine to learn that they do not. Last week, she waited three hours in Giant Eagle’s online queue hoping for a lock. She gave up when the website told her she still had more than an hour left.
She understands that there is a demand all over the country. But with reports of inconsistent distribution of vaccines, including people in phase 1B and later groups gaining access, and a general sense of disorganization over the deployment process, she has little confidence that her mother will receive the vaccine in a timely manner. It feels like the ‘Wild West’, she said.
“If I feel there is a logical, well-organized system in place, I’ll be fine if she’s waiting her turn,” Scott said. ‘My problem is that I feel that all kinds of people are able to jump the line because there is no system. … She’s never going to get her turn. ‘
A centralized system or a telephone line that her mother could easily reach would be a start for a solution. For now, Scott is expanding her search for surrounding provinces.
‘I’ll drive her for an hour or two to do that. I’m taking a day off, ” she said.
Residents across western Pennsylvania reflected similar sentiments. The desperation to vaccinate their older relatives, many of whom have been locked up for many months, is increasing.
“Once I get a vaccine in October, I don’t care,” said Arlan Hess, a mountain. Resident of Lebanon and owner of City Books on the north side of Pittsburgh. “But my mother needs to be vaccinated, because she’s not going to survive if she gets it.”
Hess tried to arrange a vaccination appointment for her 79-year-old mother who lives in Washington County and has CVID (a chronic immune deficiency). She has put her on waiting lists in Donora, Bethel Park, Jefferson Hills, wherever her name will take. Meanwhile, she tightened the restrictions on her business, purchased an expensive air filter and restricted her own contact with people to keep her mother safe.
She tried twice to register her mother through the Allegheny County Department of Health for the vaccine, but no matter how quickly she reported, it always seemed like the spaces were already full. After the most recent Allegheny Alert, Hess almost made it. But she needed her mother to send a photo of her insurance information, and her mother does not know how to send photos with her phone.
Hess is not sure what the solution is. A centralized phone line can not hurt, but she also does not know if it would help. At this point, she said, she does not know who to focus her frustration on.
“I do not know if any of us trust the government in any way,” she said.
Teghan Simonton is an author of the staff of Tribune-Review. You can contact Teghan at 724-226-4680, [email protected] or via Twitter .
Categories:
Coronavirus | Health | Local | Region | Top stories