Howard Cohen & Michelle Marchante -
Win the lottery or nail an appointment for a Covid-19 vaccine dose? For thousands of seniors, their friends and family members and caregivers, getting a shot might feel like winning the lottery.
That’s how valuable — and seemingly hard to get — that appointment is given how demand far outstrips supply. And it’s also telling how technology tools are not always accessible to every member of a community.
In a world where many seniors don’t have computers or computer skills, asking an older population to constantly check websites, navigate links, monitor Twitter alerts as appointments open, close, then open again, has been a challenge.
“We are hearing more deep frustration than success stories from seniors 65-plus trying to sign up to receive the Covid-19 vaccine in Florida’’, said Jeff Johnson, state director for AARP Florida.
“The sign-up process is cumbersome and time consuming, even for younger adults helping parents or older relatives’’, he said. “There is a lack of sign-up process standardisation among vaccine providers even in the same city and the state’s vaccine locator does not always offer a phone option for providers.”
Lourdes Diaz knows how it is. She said Mount Sinai Medical Center reached out to her 91-year-old mother on December 23 because her mum is a patient. Diaz said she called the Miami Beach hospital to get an appointment for her, left messages and emails. “I even used Twitter,but no luck.”
Her mum, she said, does not know how to use the Internet.
“I was finally able to get my mother an appointment at Jackson Health. I got lucky’’, Diaz said. “They were supposed to open the appointment portal at 11 am but it was already open when I checked in around 10 am. Registering was quick and I had no problems. The appointment itself went great. We were ushered in right away and everything was very organised. My mother has her second appointment this week.”
But Diaz said trying to secure those shots at both hospitals pulled her away from her own work responsibilities for about 10 hours as she spent time researching and reaching out.
Thankfully, I was working remotely and had the flexibility to be persistent’’, Diaz said. “But this has been a very frustrating experience. I believe everyone is trying their best, but there are so many barriers. It’s like winning the lotto.”
According to Pew Research Center, Americans 60 and older are spending more time with computers — on desktops, laptops or smart phones.
In 2000, 14 per cent of those ages 65 and older were Internet users. Now, 73 per cent are, according to Pew. “And while smartphone ownership was uncommon at all ages around the turn of the 21st century, now about half (53 per cent) of people 65 and older are smartphone owners.”
At the same time, Pew’s research found that about 30 per cent of adults in low-income households below $30,000 a year don’t own a smartphone. More than 40 per cent lack home broadband services or a traditional computer and even fewer own tablets. — dpa
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
