Volunteer army helps Florida elders book coveted COVID shots

Volunteer army helps Florida elders book coveted COVID shots MIAMI (AP) — Jenn Greenberg is pretty busy helping her kindergartner with virtual classes and taking care of a toddler in her Florida home. But somehow she has also found the time to help dozens... AP NEWS

MIAMI (AP) — Jenn Greenberg is pretty busy helping her kindergartner with virtual classes and taking care of a toddler in her Florida home. But somehow she has also found the time to help dozens of seniors she has never met navigate the confusing, often chaotic process of getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

Greenberg is part of a 120-member volunteer force helping South Florida residents 65 and older clear the daunting hurdles of state-run registration systems that are poorly organized and rely heavily on a technology that is often like a foreign language to them.

The problem has emerged in numerous states, where the absence of a streamlined national system has forced local governments to hurriedly cobble together a puzzling patchwork of vaccine distribution and administration plans.

I realized how many barriers were in place which made lining up appointments very difficult,” said Greenberg, 36, who was inspired to volunteer her services after she saw how much work it took to get her own parents and grandparents signed up. ...

When Florida expanded eligibility for the vaccine to the general elderly population in late December, anxious seniors camped out overnight at vaccination sites, phone lines rang unanswered and websites crashed.

Many seniors have also been thrown by having to register online instead of making an appointment by phone or in person.

Recognizing a need to simplify the process, school principal Russ Schwartz and registered nurse Katherine Quirk of Parkland established the South Florida COVID-19 Vaccination Info page on Facebook.

First set up last month, the page was conceived to be a one-stop shop for seniors — somewhere they could find all the information they needed to sign up for shots. The Facebook group alerted members when vaccination hotlines were listing available spots or when a website was about to accept bookings.

The page’s organizers soon found, however, that seniors aren’t necessarily glued to their cellphones and laptops, and that it would be much easier for them if someone could sign up on their behalf. ...