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Stephie Byars and her husband were in a giant eagle parking lot when they received the Allegheny alert.
“We turned off the car. I had my husband call his parents on his phone and put it on speakerphone, and I went on my phone and did the technical stuff, ”said Byars, 37, from Dravosburg. .
There were appointments open at the county’s vaccine distribution site in Monroeville. The Byars family were just one of thousands who rushed to sign up.
Speaking with her in-laws, both aged 70, she scanned the health department’s online sign-up sheet on her own phone, zooming in on the form and noting how much the site lagged behind for that she was trying to go through the process.
She managed to make an appointment for her stepfather for February 12. Then, returning to the beginning of the form, she started the process again for her stepmother. It was too late. In a few minutes, all the places were filled.
In the Pittsburgh area and across the country, young people and millennials describe giving up everything to help their elderly parents sign up for the covid-19 vaccine – often only available through online forms. Many older residents of western Pennsylvania say they don’t have computers or internet access, or aren’t tech-savvy enough to navigate the process.
“Accessibility for older, tech-savvy people,” said Byars, “just seems to me to be really insufficient.”
Byars said his in-laws had a computer and an iPad, but they were not familiar with the technology. She said they haven’t even seen the date confirmation email yet, as her stepmom didn’t know how to access her email.
“I guess it’s just hard for us to do that – it’s a generational thing,” said Tamara Thomas, 70, Byars’ stepmother, who said she had been taking refuge there for almost. one year. “We can’t navigate the way they want to.”
Thomas said she was grateful to have children who can help.
“I think they forget that those of us who are older don’t have the same tools,” Thomas said.
The problem goes beyond the inconvenience, say lawyers and family members. The plethora of vendors, each with their own registration and login system, creates a system that is difficult to navigate even for the most tech-savvy residents. The map of vaccine suppliers available on the Pennsylvania Department of Health website lists many pharmacies that, upon further investigation, do not actually have vaccines. Family members say they struggle to balance their full-time jobs with their worries by calling dozens of vaccine suppliers, spending hours on standby and getting kicked off from websites overcrowded.
For older residents with little tech experience, it is virtually impossible to imagine such a task. Bill Johnson-Walsh, Pennsylvania state director for AARP, said many residents have no access to a device, and if they do, it’s usually just to communicate with their grandchildren or to play games.
“It’s statewide,” Johnson-Walsh said. “The frustration, the confusion that reigns. We have received several hundred calls over the past few weeks just asking for help. ”
In a letter to Governor Tom Wolf, Johnson-Walsh and AARP recommended a centralized 800 number so people can call to have their questions answered, a system in which a real person can walk them through the process. Johnson-Walsh understands the state’s decentralized approach to vaccine delivery – leaving independent hospitals and other providers to administer doses on their own – but for many of the state’s most at-risk residents, the lack of accessible information puts life-saving vaccines out of reach.
“To make sure that this death rate goes down, we need to be able to vaccinate those who are most at risk,” he said.
April Hutcheson, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of Health, said the department operates an 877 information line, which people can call with questions about the process, but ultimately the taking appointments will be made online. The regional agencies on aging, of the Ministry of Aging, are also working to reach older residents in their communities, she said.
“It will not be an agency capable of facilitating all of this,” she said. “This is the largest vaccination effort ever in this state and in this country in our history. It will take all of us to contribute to this vaccination process. ”
In Allegheny County, officials on Wednesday admitted difficulties with the current health department system. Dr Debra Bogen, director of health for the county, said the department is making plans to deliver vaccines to high-rise buildings and similar communities, make improvements to the website to prevent it from crashing and set up a telephone recording line.
“I know it puts those who don’t have internet access at a disadvantage, those who can’t navigate those difficult recording sites, and those who can’t spend all day looking at a computer and clicking links in hoping to get a date, ”Bogen said.
In the meantime, she asked that the residents help each other with the current process.
“It would be great if you could help your parents, help your grandparents, help your neighbors,” Bogen said. “I know the online registration system can be difficult to navigate even if you are a little computer savvy. So imagine if you are not good at computers. ”
Many are already doing it, but it is not a sustainable strategy. Jerilyn Scott, a teacher at Sewickley, said she had called providers large and small – everywhere from Giant Eagle and Rite Aid to independent local pharmacies and area health systems – in hopes of getting her immunized. 82 year old mother.
“Even for me, trying to navigate it is a mess,” Scott said.
Scott described a maze of conflicting websites, links and information from different agencies on how to set up an appointment for a vaccine. She said she often contacted providers listed on the Allegheny County map as having a vaccine to find out they did not have one. Last week, she waited three hours in Giant Eagle’s online queue, hoping for a slot. She gave up when the website told her she still had over an hour left.
She understands that there is a statewide supply problem. But with reports of inconsistent vaccine distribution, including people in Phase 1B and later groups with access, and a general sense of disorganization regarding the deployment process, she hardly believes her mother will receive the drug. timely vaccine. It sounds like the “Wild West,” she says.
“If I felt like there was a logical, well-organized system in place, I would be okay with her standing in line,” Scott said. “My problem is that I have a feeling that all kinds of people are able to skip the line because there is no system. … She will never have her turn.
A centralized system or a phone line that her mother could easily reach would be the start of a solution, she said. For now, Scott is expanding his research to surrounding counties.
“I’m going to drive her an hour or two to do it, I’m going to take a day off,” she said.
Residents across western Pennsylvania echoed similar sentiments. The desperation to vaccinate their older parents, many of whom have been locked up for months, is growing.
“If I don’t get the vaccine before October, I don’t care,” said Arlan Hess, a Mt. Lebanese resident and owner of City Books on the North Side of Pittsburgh. “But my mom needs to be vaccinated because she won’t survive if she gets it.”
Hess tried to arrange a vaccine appointment for her 79-year-old mother who lives in Washington County and suffers from CVID (a chronic immune deficiency). She’s put her on waiting lists in Donora, Bethel Park, Jefferson Hills, wherever she bears her name. During this time, she tightened restrictions on her business, bought an expensive air filter, and limited her own contact with people to keep her mother safe.
She tried twice to register her mother for the vaccine through the Allegheny County Health Department, but no matter how quickly she logged in, it always seemed like the spaces were already full. After the last Allegheny Alert, Hess almost made it through the form. But she needed her mom to send a photo of her insurance information, and her mom didn’t know how to send photos with her phone.
Hess is not sure of the solution. A centralized phone line couldn’t hurt, but she also doesn’t know if that would help. At this point, she says, she doesn’t know where to direct her frustration.
“I’m not sure any of us trust government of any kind,” she said.
Teghan Simonton is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Teghan at 724-226-4680, [email protected] or via Twitter .
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