[ad_1]
Sudders said the state intended to remove callers from other existing contracted call centers in the state, according to lawmakers, two of whom said Sudders had explicitly said no one would be transferred from the center. customer service for state unemployment benefits.
But the key details of the plan seemed fluid. Sudders said in general that 400 to 450 call takers could handle up to 10,000 calls, according to lawmakers, but she did not say how many employees would staff the center.
Lawmakers said they were also unsure whether the hotline would be accessible in multiple languages, which experts and lawmakers have been asking since Gov. Charlie Baker said on Thursday the state would establish a call center for ‘here next week.
“I don’t think it will obviously be enough. But I think it’s a start, ”said State Senator Anne M. Gobi, a Democrat from Spencer who was on call with Sudders. Gobi is one of 60 lawmakers approving legislation tabled by Senator Eric P. Lesser that would require the state to create a 24-hour helpline for people looking for doses.
Kate Reilly, spokeswoman for the state’s COVID-19 command center, did not answer questions on Friday’s call, saying more information is expected next week.
The current online-only immunization appointment booking system has frustrated many eligible residents, especially the elderly, and disadvantaged those who cannot easily access the Internet.
Available appointments, meanwhile, were quickly catered for, including at the Gillette Stadium and Fenway Park mega-vaccination sites, with demand rapidly stretching the country’s already underutilized vaccine supply. State. Mass vaccinations for people 75 years of age and over must start on Monday.
Officials in other states have created systems for making appointments over the phone, including in Florida. In Alabama, a state of 4.9 million people, officials created an online portal, but only after the toll-free number set up to schedule appointments was inundated with 1.1 million people. calls on the first day.
Sudders admitted to lawmakers that the Massachusetts website was “not user-friendly,” State Senator Rebecca L. Rausch, a Democrat from Needham who was on call Friday, said.
“I can’t shake the question of why this wasn’t done earlier, and why the website is such a disaster,” Rausch said of the hotline’s creation. “A public outcry from Stockbridge in Boston and an emergency bill from the Legislature shouldn’t have been necessary to create a much better call center or website.”
Creating the helpline will require an effort to scale the state’s dramatic expansion of its UI call center during the time of the pandemic. departure, according to Cimarron Buser, managing director of The Appointment Scheduling & Booking Industry Association, a software industry trade group based in Wellesley Hills.
“If you want to avoid the next problem, people call. . . and they’re put on hold, so you haven’t really fixed the problem, ”Buser said. “You just moved it to a new medium.”
As the pandemic quickly wiped out jobs in the spring, overwhelming the Unemployment Assistance Department’s customer service center with calls, officials increased its staff from 50 to nearly 2,000 at one point. It now has 670 employees handling an average of 16,000 calls per day, officials said.
Lesser, a Democrat from Longmeadow, said ideally the call center would have enough staff so people didn’t wait longer than 30 minutes. “It has to be a one-stop-shop,” he says.
The introduction of the hotline is a belated opportunity to address some of the shortcomings in the vaccine registration system, according to public health advocates.
Carlene Pavlos, executive director of the Massachusetts Public Health Association, said it was essential that the hotline be available in multiple languages.
“The access vehicles that are created by the administration are so much easier for people who already speak English, have a good internet connection, have access to a primary care doctor to whom they speak frequently – who are already connected, Pavlos told me. “It is precisely the communities that suffer from the deprivation of their voting rights and historic racism and who may not speak English as their first language that are being left behind.”
Al Vega, director of policy and programs for the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety & Health, wants accessibility more urgently.
“I really hope that the governor will continue to hear what these needs are and to do good things like the deployment of this hotline, but I hope to be able to do them in a more efficient and urgent way,” said Vega. “Because obviously people are in desperate need of it.”
Matt Stout can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @mattpstout. Andy Rosen can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on twitter @andyrosen.
[ad_2]
Source link