Many seniors are comfortable sending text messages, tweeting and surfing the Internet. But for those who don’t, taking the time to learn a new skill often seems daunting, said Kamber. Technology Services for Older Adults has taught 48,000 people how to get started online since the pandemic began, he said, and operates a hotline. When vaccine enrollment began, the team on the phone answered thousands of questions about making appointments.
Aging area agencies, part of a national aging network funded by the federal government and overseen by the Administration for Life in the Community, are also helping. Local divisions have called the elderly and helped them apply for vaccine appointments over the phone or in person, said Sandy Markwood, chief executive of Area Agencies, which include more than 600 regional nonprofit centers run by state governments .
In Akron, Ohio, Lee Freund, 78, said all the hospitals, pharmacies and grocery stores she called for a vaccine had directed her to a series of confusing web pages. Mrs. Freund accidentally managed to sign up for groceries, but she was not lucky to try a chance. She ended up in tears.
“When you are alone, it is frustrating, overwhelming and very emotional,” said Freund, whose husband died last year. She said she didn’t call her children for help because she didn’t want to be a burden. “It almost made me think, ‘I don’t think it’s worth it’.”
Ms. Freund finally found help at the nearby Area Agency on Aging, where a woman got an appointment for her.
At the end of last week, only 12.3 million Americans aged 75 and over, or 28%, had received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, who reintroduced a bill last year that would allocate money to help make older Americans online, said the government failed to anticipate an avoidable crisis by not funding senior agencies earlier. .
Aging network organizations “have been overwhelmed by the needs and demands they have and are struggling to overcome the pandemic,” said Smith in an interview. “We have few resources for that and we are seeing the effects of that.”