The county hired CuraPatient to develop the app, which will also be used to track side effects that may come from inoculations.
After the OC opened eligibility for residents aged 65 and over on Tuesday, the system was overloaded with people trying to get consultations to the point where people could no longer register. Messages, calls and emails reached Eyewitness News with complaints.
According to the OC Health Care Agency, 10,000 people were able to obtain consultations during Tuesday night. Some of them are friends of Marvel Bartley.
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“They have been very successful. They went to Disneyland and found that it took an hour, which is not bad, so I don’t think it’s a total disaster, but I think it’s a challenge,” said Bartley.
Bartley was eligible for vaccination as part of the group aged 65 or older, but on Friday afternoon, she had only managed to register in Othena. Bartley said he would try to make an appointment. She said that patience and persistence are key.
“I think that’s what it takes,” said Bartley.
Bartley and others who were able to register shared the messages they received stating that they were not eligible for appointments (although everyone was over 65), that the vacancies were not available, or confirming appointments, but without a date, time and place .
Joseph McFaul said he was very slow when he had the chance and the option to accept an appointment.
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“I quickly went down to ‘accept’ that appointment and as soon as I clicked on it, he said there were no appointments available,” said McFaul.
To add to the frustration, many people aged 65 and over may not be comfortable with or have access to technology.
According to US Census estimates, 14% of OC’s 3.2 million residents are in this age group.
According to estimates from census tract data, in District 5 of OC, about 110,000, or 17.5% of about 620,000 people are 65 or older. District 5 supervisor Lisa Bartlett said this technology was still the most efficient way.
“When we think about vaccinating the population aged 65 or over in our municipality, showing the demographic aging that is a huge population and we want to vaccinate this population as efficiently as possible and putting everyone in the Othena vaccination process to schedule appointments that is really most efficient way to record everyone, get all the information collected in a data repository and be able to schedule appointments, “said Bartlett.
Bartlett asked residents to keep trying because new appointments opened daily and said that soon a live chat would be available for assistance.
McFaul liked the challenge at hand, but said the bugs should have been resolved before going live.
“By having a typical person try to use it and see what obstacles they encounter, I think that if they had done these things, they would have a better system right away,” said McFaul.
The OCHCA director asked Orange County supervisors on Tuesday to find communities within their districts with large numbers of seniors who may not have access to Disneyland Super POD. The agency will send mobile PODs to these areas on Sundays to vaccinate people, switching locations weekly.
Nominations for these Sunday mobile PODs will not go through Otena. Instead, interested parties can contact the district supervisor’s office.
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