Russ's Ravings: What If Your Grandmother Needed A Vaccine?

Editor's note: The following is Patch Field Editor Russ Crespolini's, hopefully, weekly column. It is reflective of his opinion alone.

After weeks of nonspecific news releases and a false start, CVS pharmacy started taking appointments for COVID vaccinations at locations in the Garden State.

Where? Well, that you need to check the website for or call to get an appointment. Or don't call. Or maybe call but definitely don't show up. Joining an already complicated inoculation process in New Jersey, CVS and Rite Aid obstensibly are going to offer another venue besides the state run sites to the distribute the vaccination being used to crush the pandemic.

But much like the other offerings the supply is limited and the way to register is confusing and quite frankly, ageist.

I was fortunate enough to receive my first vaccine dose a few weeks ago and my second one on Monday. But the process was not easy. It was equal parts luck and obsession that required me to be facile and computer savvy.

But according to my inbox, we are leaving some of our most vulnerable to their own devices. A little over a week ago I was given the privilege of telling the story of Julianne Buccino's attempt to help vaccinate her Vietnam veteran father fighting multiple sclerosis. Frustrated by the lack of support, she took action and created a petition in the hopes that others would join her in championing for senior citizens who were being left behind by the technology of the sign-up process.

"They are the most susceptible group to passing away from COVID-19, and there is no excuse for it being this hard. Beyond that, it is also critical that senior citizens know that properly manned phone lines exist, once they do," Buccino said. "New Jersey needs a proactive vaccination appointment approach that does not depend upon computers and is senior citizen friendly. The hotline 'sounds like' a good solution, but it has not yet worked for my dad or many others."

And the fear being felt by family members trying to help are felt by these seniors too. Especially those without family to assist. I know, because I spoke to them. I've read their emails and I've felt a gut-churning combination of guilt for being vaccinated and helplessness for having little to say but "hang in there."

At work I have tried to make every vaccine story I post have as much utility as possible. But keeping up to date with the changes, some announced, some not, has been daunting. I have also listened to those scarred by their own experiences with COVID-19 the thought of not getting vaccinated is terrifying.

Out of the many messages I received, this woman's experience struck a chord with me. Because it made the terror real to me.

"I live alone. Being sick with covid was terrifying. I truly thought I was going to die. I told my grown children where all my important papers were, passwords, etc. I was lucky that my oxygen level during the whole siege remained good, so that was the most important thing. I'm very lucky to be a survivor and only had to go to the hospital toward the end when I was dehydrated and needed IV fluids. At the St. Barnabas Hospital Acute Care, I was the least sick person there. That's when I realized that my case was not severe. They kept me in the ER about 12 hours. I will never forget what I saw that day. It was like a living Hell! So many people on ventilators, gurgling, unconscious, doctors, nurses, aides, cleaning people working like dogs and sweating profusely in those white plastic head-to-toe suits.

Someone died and was carried out in a body bag, right past where I was on a stretcher in the hallway.

So here I am, eligible to get the vaccine. The thought of 1 or 2 days revisiting how I felt during covid is making me very anxious about the reaction."

This 78-year-old woman's fear, and concern about what type of vaccine she would get reminded me of so many who shared their fears of not getting one in time. And it put me in mind of my grandmother, Rose DeCaro.

My Grandmother was my best friend. I lived with her when I was in graduate school at her home on Wetmore Avenue in Morristown. A widow at a young age who lived through the depression and more war and strife than most, she had a fierce and independent spirit that I haven't seen before and haven't seen since. She died almost 11 years ago at the age of 92.

I miss her every day.

But I was thinking, if she was alive for this pandemic she would have been hell to deal with. She would have worn a mask, mostly improperly and insisted on going to her exercise class or to volunteer at Crestwood whenever she was allowed. She also would have struggled like hell to get an appointment for a vaccine, because she had no computer skills.

But she would have had me, or someone else to make sure she got an appointment.

So many people don't. And we are failing them. Those not in a facility, those who don't have family members those who can navigate the internet well enough but don't know the ins and outs of refreshing a webpage multiple times a day.

So I ask you, like I ask myself, what if it was your Grandmother? What if those people answering the phones at the call centers, putting out the press information for their pharmacy, what if they were trying to get the information to their grandmother?

That is the question we need to be asking ourselves. Because the answer sure as hell wouldn't be to refer them to a website repeatedly.

We need to do better. Before another scared, frightened woman shows up at a CVS begging for an inoculation they can't give.

Before another frustrated person sends an email pleading for help I can't give.

Before we tout our numbers and celebrate our successes lets make it easier for people to connect with the information they need in a medium they can access.

You'd demand as much for your grandmother.

Russ Crespolini is a Field Editor for Patch Media, adjunct professor and college newspaper advisor. His columns have won awards from the National Newspaper Association and the New Jersey Press Association.

He writes them in hopes of connecting with readers and engaging with them. And because it is cheaper than therapy. He can be reached at russ.crespolini@patch.com