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Laura Ovington took her 81-year-old mother to get her COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday and said the Okun Fieldhouse scene in Shawnee was “a full zoo”.
Tuesday was the first day that the Johnson County Department of Health and Environment offered vaccinations to people in Phase 2 of the county’s vaccine rollout plan.
The county announced this week that Phase 2 vaccinations will begin with people 80 and older.
“ They should have been more prepared ”
But Ovington said what she and her mother experienced on Tuesday morning suggested the county was not fully prepared.
She said they waited outside in the freezing weather for about 20 minutes, in the icy parking lot of the country house, with other people, mostly elderly. Ovington said some people were there with walkers and canes or in wheelchairs.
“It was freezing,” Ovington said. “No one, no volunteer, was helping people.”
Once they finally entered the country house, 20200 Johnson Drive, she said the building was nearly empty, with volunteers busy talking to each other.
“There was no reason people should have been waiting outside,” she said.
In the end, she said her mother received her first dose of the vaccine, saying the EMT that administered the vaccine was “awesome.”
But she said she hoped the county would expand its procedures after Tuesday. More elderly people will come on Wednesday to get their Phase 2 vaccinations and are expected to be below zero again.
“They need a lot more help and volunteers. They knew it was going to be frozen. They should have been more prepared, ”Ovington said.
Courtney Craig, a resident of Roeland Park, also emailed Johnson County Commissioners expressing her concerns for her 93-year-old friend who is expected to be vaccinated on Wednesday.
“When we have an age group of 80 and over and we leave them in the parking lot with no low mobility accommodation, what does that say,” Craig wrote in his email.
“I understand that we are going through strange times and planning uncertainty, but are we really doing our best when our most vulnerable to this virus and these weather conditions are forced to wait in the cold,” Craig said. . “Do better.”
Response of the commissioners
Commissioner Shirley Allenbrand responded to Craig’s email, saying “staff have been notified”.
“Thanks especially for letting us know,” Allenbrand wrote.
Commissioner Becky Fast responded to Craig and said she went to the testing site to see Craig’s concerns in person. Fast agreed that “Johnson County needs to do better” and said she had scheduled a meeting today with Johnson County Department of Health and Environment Director Sanmi Areola.
“I found it heartbreaking this morning to see old people in wheelchairs, walkers and canes on an icy sidewalk and then have to walk a long time to the building and stand out in the cold,” said Fast. “You can be assured that I will be a strong voice for improvements.”
The Johnson County Department of Health and Environment did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday morning.
This story will be updated with comments from JCDHE when we receive them.
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