DADE CITY, Fla. — Appointments that disappear within minutes and unfamiliar technology are some of the challenges seniors have when trying to book vaccine appointments.
Low income seniors can also face additional barriers.
What You Need To Know
- Residents of one Pasco County Housing Authority Community say lack of transportation and internet among barriers to getting vaccine
- Low income status is associated with several negative health outcomes
- Housing authority says it’s reached out to state agencies about scheduling vaccination clinics within its communities
“I think it would help protect me,” said Beverly Topmiller, 72, of why she wants to get the vaccine. “Because I don’t have a car and a way to get there, I’m stuck.”
Topmiller lives in the Pasco Housing Authority’s Citrus Villas community.
It’s low income housing for people 62 and older, as well as for those with disabilities. One of her neighbors, Samuel Steele, 77, also doesn’t have a way to get to a vaccination site. On top of that, he said he doesn’t have access to internet. That hasn’t stopped him from trying, though.
“I was not successful at all,” said Steele. “I did several calls because there was a number that came on one of the channels, and I got the number and made several calls. I would only get a recording saying all the spots had been taken.”
Pasco County Housing Authority Elderly Services Program Coordinator Bev Doucet said these challenges aren’t uncommon among people who live at each of the authority’s three communities.
“In the perfect world, we would like to say, ‘Let’s pile everybody up in a vehicle and take them.’ That does not happen. It cannot happen — liabilities, of course, and what have you,” said Doucet.
Doucet said she’d like to see vaccines brought right to residents’ doors with events similar to the just-introduced vaccine pods. She said she’s reached out to state agencies to schedule an event. While she said she’s hopeful, she also noted she was told when that could happen depends on when the state receives its next shipments of vaccine.
According to a position paper from the American Academy of Family Physicians, low income status is associated with a number of negative health outcomes. Doucet said this is also something seen with some housing authority tenants.
“It’s sometimes not a priority for some of our residents. They have other priorities, and they do tend to fall through the cracks,” Doucet said.
“I think it would be a great plus, especially into a community like this one,” Steele said of a possible in-community vaccination clinic. “I believe it would make it more available to me, to my community.”
Doucet said she doesn’t want to see the state’s low income residents get left behind in the vaccination effort.
“You know – we’re here. We may not make as much noise as we could. Unfortunately, some of our residents don’t have those resources to shoot an e-mail or make that phone call, but we’re here, and we’re just waiting to get this done,” said Doucet.
